The new documents, to which SIC and Expresso had access, show who received the millions that left the oil company with Isabel dos Santos' authorization through Dubai.
Between May and November 2017, Sonangol, then headed by the businesswoman, agreed to pay more than $131 million to two companies in Dubai, which actually concerned only one: Matter Business Solutions (MBS) - whose sole shareholder was Paula Oliveira, a friend and business partner of Isabel dos Santos. This company was actually a descendent of Wise Intelligence, a Malta-based company held "in the shadows" by Isabel dos Santos.
In January last year, after the case was revealed, the businesswoman assured that the millions that were sent to Dubai were used to pay the consultants. The consultants, confronted by the investigation consortium, remained silent and did not confirm having received the money for the alleged services provided to the oil company.
It is now known that on May 22, 2017, a company previous to MBS (later renamed as Matter Business Solutions) entered into a consulting contract with five companies, all represented in Portugal: the Boston Consulting Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mickinsey & Company, Odkas and the law firm Vieira de Almeida & Associados.
The document was signed by the contractors and by Mário Leite da Silva, as the contractor, according to the Portuguese television channel.
In the following months, Sonangol made the payments according to the invoices issued by MBS. The invoices that reached the oil company had brief descriptions of the services, but the authors were not identified. The money was eventually sent to a company account in Dubai, at Emirates NBD bank.
But where did the 131 million dollars go after all? The documents show that some of this money was sent to consulting firms. The Boston Consulting Group received over 31 million dollars, PricewaterhouseCoopers received over 21 million dollars, while Mickinsey and Vieira de Almeida received over 15 and 5 million dollars respectively.
These transfers, according to the Portuguese channel, are confirmed in circularization letters and interbank codes. However, after being contacted, none of the companies decided to confirm or deny the values.
All told, of the more than 131 million dollars that came out of the oil company's coffers, about 73 million were used to pay the companies and seven million for taxes. About $51 million remains to be tracked down.
Of this amount, 11 and a half million went to the Odkas consulting company, according to SIC. The company, which was hired to restructure the information technology areas of the oil company, has Paula Leite da Silva (49 percent), Mário Leite da Silva's wife, as a shareholder. The director of Odkas, in statements to SIC and Expresso, dismissed any suspicion of favoritism, saying that its services allowed Sonangol to save about 34 million euros.
"It is a fact that Odkas is a company linked to a lady with whom I have the honor of being married, a first-rate professional. No one has ever raised any question of conflict of interest due to this relationship because her credentials and the results of the work of this company speak for themselves," said Mário Leite da Silva.
Around six million were destined to UCALL, SDO and PCFNO, all owned by Paula Oliveira, a friend and partner of Isabel dos Santos.
"Paula Oliveira said that when she met Isabel dos Santos she already had a "professional and business career absolutely firm and recognized, of undeniable merit and success.
According to SIC, it was in a long explanation of 22 pages that Paula Oliveira denied irregularities.
In addition, the documents also show that about two million Sonangol were sent to Fidequity, directed by Mario Leite da Silva, and Santoro, the holding company of the businesswoman who held the participation in Eurobic, also chaired by Mario Leite da Silva.
Of the money sent to Dubai, there is still a portion of about 31 million and 600 thousand euros whose final destination the investigation could not identify.
