Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of veteran Angolan politician and former President Eduardo dos Santos, was recently listed by Forbes as Africa’s richest woman with a net worth of $2.2 billion. The Angola Court has ordered to freeze all bank accounts of Ms Isabel dos Santos and her husband Sindika Dokolo and their business partner Mário Leite, the head of the Angolan Foment Bank (BFA). The move reportedly is to recover debts she owes the government. The court order clarifies that the action was based on evidence that she has siphoned off almost $100 million through state-run oil firm Sonangol and Sodiam to overseas entities. In November 2017, she was sacked as chair of the board of the state-owned oil firm Sonangol and was later forced out , when João Lourenco took over from dos Santos following an election. In January 2018, the president also fired José Filomeno dos Santos, Isabel’s half-brother, as the country’s head of the strategic $5 billion Sovereign Fund. His court case and trial is still going on.
While the move by the courts is seen as part of the new regime’s anti-corruption crackdown, Isabel who stays abroad since 2018, slammed the charges as ‘’politically motivated”. She argued that the decision was unjustified and that the Angolan court did not provide prior notice of the existence of any proceedings denying the accused any opportunity to defend themselves. Isabel further claimed that they have contributed over 200 million dollars in taxes provided over 20,000 jobs and supported over 30,000 small businesses. Ms. Isabel argued that after the judicial order of confiscation, she will be forced to close down many of her firms and would be unable to pay salaries, make new investments or honour agreements with suppliers.
