The answer, from an official PGR source, comes to a question posed by the Lusa agency, following the suspicions raised by the 'Luanda Leaks' case, a journalistic investigation that raised doubts, namely, about the use of BIC Cabo Verde, held by Isabel dos Santos.
“To date, the Attorney General of the Republic of Cape Verde has not received any request for international judicial cooperation from the Republic of Angola, nor is there any ongoing criminal / investigation process, related to businesswoman Isabel dos Santos”, reads in response to Lusa.
In an interview with the Lusa agency in October, in the city of Praia, Isabel dos Santos said she has invested around 100 million euros in recent years in the Cape Verdean economy, first in telecommunications (Unitel T +) and then in the BIC Cabo Verde bank.
He also stated that he was preparing an investment in the digital economy in that country, a priority sector for the Cape Verdean government.
As part of a request for international judicial cooperation by the Angolan authorities, the Attorney General of the Portuguese Republic announced on February 11 that the Public Prosecutor's Office requested the seizure of bank accounts of the businesswoman in Portugal.
Isabel dos Santos was constituted accused in Angola for alleged mismanagement and embezzlement of funds during her time at the state oil company Sonangol.
BIC Cabo Verde is licensed under the regime of International Financial Institutions, “having as main object the accomplishment of international financial operations with non-residents in this State, in foreign currency”, reads in the information of the institution itself.
Although it can only work with non-resident clients and with foreign currency, BIC Cabo Verde posted profits of 5.2 million euros in 2018 for a total of only 12 workers, yet a 59.4 percent drop in profits, compared to the previous year, according to the latest report and accounts.
Banco de Cabo Verde (BCV) announced in January that it will remove “due consequences” from the ongoing inspection since late 2018 to BIC Cabo Verde, according to a statement from the central bank following the disclosure of 'Luanda Leaks' and doubts in around the bank owned by the businesswoman.
The previous Government authorized in 2013 the installation of BIC, as an international financial institution, only for non-resident customers, claiming that the promoters were then “people of merit”.
The authorization for the creation of the bank owned by Isabel dos Santos is set out in Ordinance 37/2013, of July, and consulted by Lusa, signed by the then Minister of Finance and Planning Cape Verde, Cristina Duarte, resulting from the acquisition by the Angolan bank BIC SA of the then Banco Português de Negócios in Cape Verde.
The objective was to maintain the bank as an International Financial Institution, being able to work only with non-resident clients, in the form of an autonomous entity, but the ordinance authorized its creation on an exceptional basis, invoking the public interest, admitting that among the reference partners there was not - as required by law - a financial institution headquartered in an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country.
Even so, the authorization was granted by the then Ministry of Finance - in the last PAICV Government, currently in opposition, after consultation with BCV, considering that this installation corresponded “to the country's economic development interests” and that, “although there is no a reference partner, the promoters are people of merit”.
