Isabel dos Santos said she never refused to testify in an Angolan court

Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos said on Tuesday that she never refused to make a statement in the Angolan court and that the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Angola did not notify her, adding that she had already responded to the charge in the Sonangol case. .

In a message sent to Lusa, after the Angolan authorities said that Isabel dos Santos refused to give her version of the facts of which she is accused, the businesswoman’s lawyers claim that the statement of the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic of Angola is a lie. Pedro Mendes de Carvalho said businesswoman Isabel dos Santos was notified of the questioning but chose not to answer questions.

“Engineer Isabel dos Santos, who lived outside Angola for several years (since 2017), was not notified by the Angolan PGR of the interrogation and never refused to make statements to the Court or cooperate in finding out the truth. facts and their replacement,” highlight the (unidentified) lawyers in a note sent to Lusa.

According to the statement, on January 22, 2024, Isabel dos Santos submitted answers and explanations to the charges relating to her management of the Angolan oil company Sonangol (dated January 11, 2024), within the statutory period of ten days after the Notice was received by his lawyers on January 12 of this year.

The note said Isabel dos Santos had asked for a controversial investigation into the case, which went to trial on January 22.

Isabel dos Santos, who is facing legal proceedings in several jurisdictions, says Angolan authorities never formally named her as a defendant and that she was only allowed to read the 10,000-page file for three hours.

An Angolan businesswoman, the daughter of former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, is accused of twelve crimes in a case relating to her leadership of the Angolan state oil company, including embezzlement, qualified fraud, abuse of power, breach of trust, forgery, a felony. association, economic involvement in business, influence peddling, money laundering, tax fraud and qualified tax fraud.

Isabel dos Santos’ lawyers point out contradictions in the statements of the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic of Angola, Pedro Mendes de Carvalho, saying that they “contradict even the statements and contents of the indictment”, in which the Angolan DPR itself claims that it does not know Isabel dos Santos’s place of residence.

“So how and where did the Angolan PGR send these supposed notifications?” they ask.

The lawyers emphasize that Isabel dos Santos has always been accessible and responsive to justice, listing requests and providing statements in the context of several trials in Portugal, including the trial involving the Bank of Portugal.

Regarding Case No. 48/19 (Sonangol Case), the lawyers argue that Isabel dos Santos justified her absence from the country for health reasons due to Covid-19 by expressing her willingness to cooperate.

“On March 6, 2020, a medical justification was added and, since then, engineer Isabel dos Santos has no longer been notified of any actions that needed to be taken or carried out. This is, read, 4 years ago,” they emphasize, confirming that Isabel dos Santos “has always been present in the processes through her lawyers, and this is a reason that the PGR of Angola knew, was aware of and could notify.”