By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The billionaire daughter of Angola’s ex-President, Isabel dos Santos has denied fleeing from prosecution in Angola over allegations bordering on graft.
Isabel dos Santos on Thursday told DW that she is prepared to face corruption charges related to the source of her personal wealth.
“I’m not hiding. I’m on social media every day. My whereabouts and place of residence are known,” dos Santos said.
INTERPOL last week issued a warrant for her arrest on the request of Angola’s public prosecutors, according to a report by the LUSA news agency.
The report said INTERPOL ordered dos Santos to be found, arrested and extradited to face charges in Angola.
She is likely to face charges of embezzlement, fraud, influence peddling and money laundering.
The 49-year-old billionaire businesswoman is the eldest child of the country’s late former president, Eduardo dos Santos.
Dos Santos was once ranked the richest woman in Africa with a fortune estimated at more than $2 billion.
Dos Santos lives mostly in London, Dubai or Lisbon — the capital of Angola’s former colonial power Portugal.
She told DW that she is yet to be notified of any arrest warrant but argued that she has cooperated with judicial authorities so far.
“When I’m summoned by the judiciary in Portugal, I always show up on time and make my statements. I have no problems with that to help establish the truth, but I assume that the Angolan prosecutors really don’t want me to testify in court.”
The Angolan judiciary began investigating the dos Santos clan after the resignation of Eduardo dos Santos in 2017. Among the allegations leveled against Isabel dos Santos is the embezzlement of over $200 million in public funds during her time as head of the state oil company Sonangol.
In 2020, more than 715,000 emails, contracts and memos were made public as part of the so-called Luanda Leaks expose by the New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The documents disclosed conflicts of interest and nepotism of the former Angolan presidential family.
Dos Santos told DW that the leaks were part of a plot against her family.
“A lot of false information was spread in the wake of the Luanda Leaks. And behind it is the Angolan Attorney General’s Office and the Angolan state, who hired a group of journalists to spread their agenda,” she told DW.
“I want to help the truth come out. The people should know that the so-called Luanda Leaks are ordered lies. It is a plot against me and my family.”
However, Ana Gomes, a Portuguese politician and former member of the European Parliament, told DW that labeling of the Luanda Leaks as false is untenable.
“Luanda Leaks is a journalistic investigation based on revelations made by Rui Pinto. It is an investigation that has the credibility of the consortium of journalists who have been behind revelations like the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, etc. Everything has been verified by journalists,” the Lisbon-based diplomat said.
Gomes also rejected a claim by dos Santos that the Angolan government had supplied the investigative journalists with forged documents.
