Page 7 - Nile Explorer Issue 007

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File Photo: Isabel dos Santos particates at a past energy investor conference.
I sabel dos Santos (born 20 April 1973) This profile of wealth is however followed an investigation into her

tumbling following a ruling in Febru-
business dealings that were sparked by
in Baku, Azerbaijan, the oldest
daughter of Angola's former President ary, by Portuguese Judge Carlos Alexan- “Luanda Leaks” — a dossier of more
José Eduardo dos Santos and his first dre, when he ordered the seizure of all than 715,000 documents that was
wife, the Russian-born Tatiana Kukano- of dos Santos’ assets in the country, shared with the ICIJ last year. The orga-
va, whom he met while studying in the according to the International Consor- nization’s eight-month investigation
then Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. tium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). found that dos Santos moved hundreds
Isabel a businesswoman is Africa's As of January, Dos Santos owned stakes of millions of dollars in public funds out
richest woman. His father, Angola's worth hundreds of millions of dollars of Angola, one of the poorest countries
former President José Eduardo dos each in at least four Portuguese compa- in the world, and funneled the money
Santos, ruled the country from 1979 to nies, including oil and gas firm Galp and into hundreds of offshore companies in
2017. Her father's parents came from media firm Nos. Forbes currently pegs 41 countries. Dos Santos who denies the
São Tomé and Príncipe; she attended her net worth at $1.4 billion allegations terming them as “extremely
the all-girls boarding school in Kent, Dos Santos and Dokolo are also accused misleading”
Cobham Hall School, and then proceed- of establishing and funneling millions of In 2016, a year before leaving office, Jose
ed to study electrical engineering at dollars to shell companies in tax havens, Eduardo dos Santos, the long-time
King's College in London. And In 2002, including Dubai, Malta and the British President of Angola—he ruled for
she married Congolese businessman Virgin Islands. The documents allege 38years—appointed Isabel as head of
Sindika Dokolo, a high-profile art that the Malta office of London-based Sonangol, the country’s state-owned oil
collector. consulting firm PwC was hired to audit company. While there, according to
By the time she was 40, Dos Santos dos Santos’ company accounts. U.S. media reports, she transferred $57
owned significant stakes in Angola’s key consulting giants Boston Consulting million through a EuroBic bank account
industries, including banking, cement, Group and McKinsey were also alleged- to Matter Business Solutions, a
diamonds and telecom, and expanded in ly hired by advisers of dos Santos to Dubai-based company reportedly runs
2009 to include stakes in Portuguese rescue the struggling Sonangol in 2016. by dos Santos’ close friend.
banks and media companies. Dos The leaks of invoices from shell compa- According to the leaked documents,
Santos is thought to own luxury proper- nies — tied to dos Santos and her associ- which span from 1980 to 2018 but
ties in London, Lisbon, and Monte ates — show millions of dollars were largely covering the last ten years, dos
Carlo, and a luxury residence in Dubai paid to these consulting firms. Santos benefited from lucrative deals in
on a seahorse-shaped artificial island, The Portuguese judge’s decision came several of Angola’s key industries during
according to the New York Times. A after Angolan authorities in January her father’s presidency and redirected
2013 profile in Forbes magazine charged dos Santos with embezzlement state funds to a web of shell companies
declared her Africa’s richest and only and money laundering and froze her worldwide. The documents also allege
female billionaire, as well as the conti- assets in Angola. The Angolan charges that dos Santos was implicated in
nent’s youngest.
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