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Luanda Leaks: Isabel dos Santos' last days

The businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is the main target of a journalistic investigation, under the name 'Luanda Leaks', which details financial schemes that will have allowed to withdraw money from the national public purse, using tax havens.

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The businesswoman, daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, had already been accused by the Angolan justice system, at the end of last year, of concluding business with the State through public companies.

Here is a chronology of the most important events since that time:

December 30, 2019 - In a statement, the Luanda Provincial Court announces that it has ordered the preventive seizure of personal bank accounts by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, Sindika Dokolo and Mário da Silva, in addition to nine companies in which they hold stakes . According to the PGR, Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former President of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, Sindika Dokolo, husband of Isabel dos Santos, and Filipe da Silva celebrated business with the Angolan State through Sodiam, a public company that sells diamonds, and with Sonangol, a state oil company.

December 31, 2019 - Businesswoman Isabel dos Santos says she was never notified or heard in the context of the investigation that led to the foreclosure of her accounts in Angola, denying the charges in which she is targeted in a process that claims to be “politically motivated”. In a statement sent to Lusa, the Angolan businesswoman says “that she was never notified by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) or cited by the Luanda Provincial Court”, unaware of the content of the accusation and that “she did not have the opportunity to present a defense”.

January 2, 2020 - The Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) says that "it is monitoring the implications of that judicial decision, namely with regard to any obligations to provide information to the market by national entities", but, he adds, taking into account that "the referred decision primarily concerns entities under Angolan law, it does not appear for the time being, and in view of the information available, it is necessary that national listed companies, not covered by the said decision, disclose information to the market".

January 2, 2020 - Banco de Portugal stated that "it considers all new facts that may be relevant for the purposes of assessing/reassessing the suitability of any persons who exercise management/supervisory functions or are shareholders of institutions which it supervises", it can be read in a note sent by the central bank to Lusa about the case of businesswoman Isabel dos Santos.

January 4, 2020 - The Capital Economics consultant who follows the Angolan economy considered to Lusa that the freezing of Isabel dos Santos' accounts will not have a relevant macroeconomic impact, signaling the reformist impetus of the Government: "Freezing the assets of Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former President of Angola, as part of the fight against corruption, should not have a major macroeconomic impact, but it does signal the seriousness of President Lourenço's reformist impetus", said Virág Fórizs.

January 6, 2020 - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel Augusto, argued that the legal action against the businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is not against a particular person, being inserted in the law of repatriation of assets and capital. The action "is not an isolated act or directed at someone in particular, but at all those who, having not adhered to the possibility that the State gave when it established the first voluntary repatriation law, applies to all who are going to do it now, coercively", said the head of national diplomacy.

January 6, 2020 - The director of the consultancy EXX Africa considered to Lusa that the main objective of the lawsuit against Isabel dos Santos is to make the assets ingestible and to force the businesswoman to abandon business in Angola: "The main objective of this legal action seems be to make Isabel dos Santos' businesses in Angola ingestible and thus force a sale or transfer of her assets to the State or to politically close buyers of the executive", said the analyst.

January 11, 2020 - UNITA President Adalberto da Costa Júnior criticized “targeted justice” and the war between “hornets” within the ruling MPLA party, which “is not helping” Angola. Adalberto da Costa Júnior stressed that "everyone must return the money diverted to the State", stressing that "there are names of whom no one already speaks".

January 17, 2020 - The Sintra Court rejected the civil suit filed by businesswoman Isabel dos Santos against former MEP Ana Gomes for alleged offenses to her good name and reputation, the Portuguese diplomat revealed. The meaning of the sentence was announced by the former MEP in her official account on the social network Twitter, in a publication in which Ana Gomes said that the court in Sintra considered that "the defendant's right to freedom of expression and information [Ana Gomes] should prevail over the personality rights (reputation and good name) of the applicant (Isabel dos Santos).

January 17, 2020 - Former President José Eduardo dos Santos stated that he “never” transferred money from the State to himself or another.

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