Assets Of Africa's Richest Woman Isabel dos Santos Frozen By Angolan Government

The assets of Africa's richest woman, Isabel dos Santos has been frozen by the Angolan government. Isabel dos Santos is one of the three people accused of causing losses of more than $1 billion to the state. Isabel dos Santos is the billionaire daughter of the country's previous president.

Current president, João Lourenço ended the nearly 40-year reign of former President, José Eduardo dos Santos in 2017 and since then has been trying to erase the influence of his predecessor and reform Angola. Angola is sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy, however, the current president is under pressure as the country continues to contract under his watch.

In a statement, Santos said, “The judgment contains statements which are completely untrue. It would have been easy to dismantle them in an open court.”

According to Reuters, the court order is part of an Angolan government crackdown on the family of the former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Angola for nearly four decades until retiring in 2017. Later that year, new Angolan President Joao Lourenco dismissed Isabel dos Santos as the head of Sonangol, the state oil company.  

The court order which was issued on December 23, 2019, states that Exem Energy BV, an entity owned by Isabel dos Santos and Sindika Dokolo, had promised to repay at least $75 million it owes to Sonangol, but has failed to do so. The court document also stated that Dos Santos has been living in Portugal and the U.K.

 The court froze the following assets:

• Isabel dos Santos’ 25% stake in mobile telecom firm, Unitel of which Forbes estimates her stake to be worth an $250 million.

• Her 42.5% stake in Banco International de Credito, an Angolan bank also known as Banco BIC; of which Forbes estimates her stake to be worth $185 million.

• A 51% stake in Banco Fomento de Angola, owned through Unitel.

It has been reported that the majority of her estimated $2.2 billion net worth will not be affected by the court’s decision since it lies in stakes of Portuguese companies. Dos Santos owns 42.5% of bank Eurobic, plus shares of telecom firm NOS and engineering firm Efacec. It is also believed that her most valuable asset is a roughly 6% stake in Portuguese oil and gas firm Galp, which she and her husband owns through Exem Energy BV and estimated to be worth about$830 million.

Dos Santos tweeted recently, “ The Angolan Civil Court Order is about a commercial dispute principally involving the alleged non-payment of a debt. It’s a provisional order freezing certain assets. The court did not issue any decision on whether in fact any debt is owed to Angolan state.”

The court order further states that Isabel dos Santos, Sindika Dokolo and Mario Felipe Moreira Leite da Silva, chairman of Angolan bank Banco Fomento de Angola, caused the Angolan government losses of at least $1.14 billion. It froze the money in personal bank accounts in Angola held by Dos Santos, Dokolo and Da Silva.

In a statement, Dos Santos said, “I fully condemn the political measure in question, which violates all prescribed law.” She also tweeted: “My companies employ thousands of employees in Angola, providing well-paid jobs with good benefits.”  

In an article published in 2013, Forbes stated out how Dos Santos had obtained some of the stakes in Angolan companies as a result of what appeared to be illegal transfers initiated by her father. However, her spokesperson said her investments and assets were acquired transparently. Forbes also put her net worth then at $3 billion.