According to the Malta Today newspaper, the country's tax authority is demanding the payment of 191,000 euros in taxes to the consulting firm Kento Holding, registered in Malta.
The tax investigation was launched shortly after the publication of files known as "Luanda Leaks" by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in January 2020, and after an Angolan court froze several holdings of Isabel dos Santos, including in the telecommunications company Unitel furniture.
According to the newspaper, Isabel dos Santos has 14 companies registered in Malta created "to minimize the tax exposure of funds sent to the island", including Kento Holding, which claimed the reimbursement of 99 thousand euros in Value Added Tax ( VAT) and now faces a nearly double tax bill.
The Maltese authorities' investigation concluded that Kento Holding had no economic activity in the country and therefore was not entitled to a refund.
On the contrary, he concluded that the company owed the Treasury of Malta a total of 191,176 euros in taxes.
According to the investigation, cited by the newspaper, the company held a 70 percent stake in two major subsidiaries, Upstar Comunicações de Portugal and Mstar de Moçambique.
Also a shareholder of ZOPT in Portugal, at the time the main shareholder of NOS, it was used to receive consulting fees for services on acquisition and redistribution agreements for television channels.
The tax investigation revealed that there was "no intention to engage in any economic activity" in the country that deserved a VAT refund, writes Malta Today.
"It is highly unlikely that the company has real intentions to carry out an economic activity despite having been registered since 1 September 2018, since no turnover has been reported", says a source from the Investigations and Compliance Department, quoted by the newspaper .
The same source, added that, in addition to the outstanding taxes, the company will have to pay more than 38,000 euros in fines.
