Businesswoman Isabel dos Santos illegally transferred 52.6 million euros from the Angolan state oil company Sonangol to her company using forged documents, a Dutch appeals court concluded.
The verdict is cited by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which initiated the case known as the Luanda Leaks and had access to the document – not yet published – through the Dutch newspaper NRC.
The decision was dictated by the Business Chamber, a special division of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, which concluded that the money was transferred from Sonangol via Dutch public limited companies to Isabelle dos Santos and her husband Sindika Dokolo (who died in 2020 Dubai, due to for an accident while diving).
The decision supports the ICIJ investigation and corroborates a damning report by a court-appointed director of Esperaza Holding BV, the vehicle used by Sonangol to buy shares in Portugal’s Galp.
The report concluded that the sale of 40% of Esperaza in 2006 to Sindika Dokolo’s Exem Energy BV was the result of an “act of corruption” and should be annulled.
At the end of 2006, Sonangol sold 40% of its shares in Esperaza and transferred them to Exem, whose ultimate beneficiaries were Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, and her husband.
The ICIJ notes that Isabel dos Santos and her partners profited from a lucrative oil, diamond, telecommunications, banking and real estate business under the government of José Eduardo dos Santos, who remained in power for nearly 40 years.
After his father left the presidency and the position was taken by his successor Joao Lourenço, who is currently in his second term, Sonangol challenged in court the legality of the acquisition of 40% of Exem’s shares in Esperaza, the dispute was resolved in favor of Sonangol in 2022 . by a Dutch arbitral tribunal, which annulled the acquisition as “contrary to public order and good manners”.
On November 15, 2017, the newly elected President of Angola, João Lourenço, dismissed Isabel dos Santos as president of Sonangol in the context of fighting corruption, which he used as a campaign banner.
At the request of Sonangol, in 2020, the Chamber of Business ordered an investigation into Esperaza’s business from January 1, 2017.
The court concluded that the businesswoman had signed false decisions to transfer 52.6 million euros in dividends from Esperaza Holding BV to her own company and that she was trying to hide these illegal transfers with dates prior to her dismissal.
The court stated that it was found that “every person who signed one or more decrees knew that they were retroactive” and that the directors of the company should have understood that Isabel dos Santos was trying to pay dividends quickly through forged resolutions and was retroactive. .
“This decision is an interim step in the state-owned Sonangol’s long attempt to recover the stolen millions,” adds ICIJ.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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