‘Africa’s richest woman’ Isabel dos Santos charged with money laundering
- Billionaire Isabel dos Santos amassed fortune during father’s presidency
- She has denied wrongdoing, calling legal action against her a ‘witch hunt’
Angola’s billionaire former first daughter Isabel dos Santos has been charged with money laundering and mismanagement during her stewardship of state-owned oil firm Sonangol, as Luanda moves to try and bring her home to face trial for looting the country’s coffers.
Documents leaked this week alleged the daughter of ex-president Jose Eduardo dos Santos plundered state revenues to build her fortune, estimated at US$2.1 billion.
“Isabel dos Santos is accused of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds during her tenure at Sonangol and is thus charged in the first instance with the crimes of money laundering, influence peddling, harmful management ... forgery of documents, among other economic crimes,” prosecutor general Helder Pitta Gros told a news conference late Wednesday.
Investigations into Isabel dos Santos’s 18-month tenure as Sonangol head from June 2016 were opened after her successor Carlos Saturnino raised the alarm about “irregular money transfers” and other dodgy procedures.
Dos Santos is accused of using her father’s backing to steal money from the oil- and diamond-rich but poor southern African country and moving it abroad with the help of Western firms.
The “Luanda Leaks” scoop, published on Sunday by some of the world’s top media outlets, has put pressure on the government of Portugal, Angola’s former colonial ruler, and some major corporations to explain what they know and what they did.
Dubbed “the princess” by Angolans, Isabel dos Santos was named Africa’s richest woman by Forbes in 2013.