The economy has been in recession for four years. When he handed over the presidency to João Lourenço, his defence minister, few expected Mr dos Santos to surrender actual power. The couple denies the claim.Het Financieele Dagblad reported on dos Santos and Dokolo’s business in the Netherlands using leaked emails, corporate records and interviews.In one email dated July 23, 2015, dos Santos’ advisers wrote about meeting United International Management in Amsterdam. The stake was acquired for $99 million, but with a down payment of just $15 million that the state oil company agreed to loan to Dokolo’s company, according to Luanda Leaks documents. Isabel dos Santos blames asset freeze for Lisbon retreat and failure to pay staff The Angolan billionaire has closed down her business offices in Portugal and fired dozens of staff after failing to pay wages, rent and bills for months. The trust company told dos Santos’ advisers that they were under pressure from Dutch regulators, according to the email. The lawsuit, however, shows the determination of some parties in the trust sector to obstruct our work as journalists rather than to be accountable to the public for their actions.”Luanda Leaks, coordinated by ICIJ, revealed how dos Santos and her husband relied on specialists, including United International Management, to help move hundreds of millions of dollars in public money out of Angola, much of it into offshore tax havens. “Mr Lourenço’s war on corruption is very selective,” she says. Angola has opened criminal investigations into the transfers. The daughter of Angola’s former strongman wants her seized assets backOn December 31st an Angolan court ordered that all of Ms dos Santos’s assets be frozen. 1710 Rhode Island Ave NW | 11th floor The civil court in Amsterdam rejected United International Management’s claims that local newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad had incorrectly characterized the firm’s relationship with dos Santos and her …
A Dutch court has dismissed a case brought by a trust company against journalists who reported on Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos as part of the Luanda Leaks investigation.A Dutch court has dismissed a case brought by a trust company against journalists who reported on Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos as part of the The civil court in Amsterdam rejected United International Management’s claims that local newspaper United International Management alleged that Het Financieele Dagblad, editor-in-chief Jan Bonjer and journalist Gaby de Groot wrongly suggested in a story that the Judge van Walraven found that Het Financieele Dagblad had accurately and properly relied on documents from Luanda Leaks. She may have a point. And, although the dos Santos family is out, plenty of dodgy officials remain in their posts. She declined to identify the mistakes.Vicente, a Portuguese-Angolan citizen, is the former chairman and CEO of AAA Seguros. Carlos Manuel de São Vicente, the former CEO of a company with a lucrative government monopoly to insure Angola’s oil sector, had his bank accounts frozen on suspicions of money laundering.Swiss authorities have frozen nearly $900 million belonging to an Angolan business executive with ties to successive presidential regimes, according to newly released court documents.Switzerland’s public prosecutors froze seven accounts of Carlos Manuel de São Vicente and family members in December 2018 on suspicions of Swiss criminal proceedings are highly secretive and details of the investigation and “My client strongly refutes the charges against himself,” Vicente’s Swiss lawyer, Clara Poglia, told the Vicente took unsuccessful last-minute legal action against Gotham City to prevent publication of the news. At length she explains how she founded Unitel in an office above a shop where she sold phones to market women. Earlier this year, ICIJ’s Luanda Leaks investigation revealed how former Sonangol chairwoman, President dos Santos’ daughter Isabel dos Santos, moved more than $38 million out of the country to a company in Dubai owned by a friend.