Angola’s billionaire former first daughter Isabel dos Santos
has been charged with money laundering and mismanagement during her stewardship
of state-owned oil firm Sonangol.
Documents leaked this week alleged the daughter of
ex-president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, plundered state coffers to build her
fortune, estimated at $2.1 billion.
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“Isabel dos Santos is accused of mismanagement and
embezzlement of funds during her tenure at Sonangol and is thus charged in the
first instance with the crimes of money laundering, influence peddling, harmful
management … forgery of documents, among other economic crimes,”
prosecutor general Helder Pitta Gros told a news conference late Wednesday.
Investigations into Isabel dos Santos’s 18-month tenure as
Sonangol head from June 2016 were opened after her successor Carlos Saturnino
raised the alarm about “irregular money transfers” and other dodgy
procedures.
Dubbed Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos is accused
of using her father’s backing to plunder state funds from the oil-rich but poor
southern African country and moving the money abroad with the help of Western
firms.
She stopped living in Angola after her father, who ruled the
country with an iron fist for nearly 40 years, stepped down in 2017 for his
anointed successor Joao Lourenco.
Gros said dos Santos was among five suspects, all of whom
were currently residing abroad.
“At the moment, the concern is to notify and get them
to voluntarily come to justice,” said Gros