The adversarial investigation is an optional phase of the process whose objective is to “present evidence and witnesses that dismantle the accusations made by the Attorney General's Office and demonstrate that they lack legal basis”, highlights the press release to which Lusa had access.
The start of the training, initially scheduled for this Thursday, “has been postponed to a later date”, the statement said, without explaining the reasons.
The businesswoman, daughter of former president José Eduardo dos Santos (now deceased), is accused of eleven crimes in the process involving her management of the state-owned company, between 2016 and 2017.
The statement signed by Isabel dos Santos refutes some of the allegations against the manager, namely the “false accusation” that she would be the owner of the company Monjasa Trading and would have sold oil to herself, which represents an alleged tax debt of Sonangol in 2017, for which Isabel dos Santos is held personally responsible.
“It is important to highlight that Sonangol’s audited reports for 2016 and 2017, approved and ratified by the relevant Ministers, do not mention any tax debt. If there were any outstanding taxes, they should have been charged to Sonangol, not to Isabel dos Santos,” the document highlights.
Isabel dos Santos' note also points out procedural violations, namely the fact that 73 witnesses were requested to be heard, but only seven were authorized by the court, “seriously limiting the exercise of the adversarial system and the right to defense”.
Furthermore, “the session was scheduled just one week in advance and the lawyers did not have prior access to the complete process” and the delivery of the complaint to the judge, which should have taken place in February 2024, was only done in April 2025, “exceeding the legal deadline of 10 days”.
Isabel dos Santos points out that trust in justice is based on the separation of powers and independence of the courts and that “if the truth prevails, the case must be archived”, avoiding “an unnecessary trial”.
Isabel dos Santos is accused of embezzlement, qualified fraud, abuse of power, breach of trust, document forgery, criminal association, economic participation in business, influence peddling, money laundering, tax fraud and qualified tax fraud, in a case that also involves Paula Oliveira, friend and partner, her former manager and friend Mário Leite da Silva, her former financial director at Sonangol Sarju Raikundalia and the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The defendants are alleged to have caused the Angolan state losses of more than US$208 million, involving unduly paid salaries, loss-making sales, tax fraud and fraudulent payments to companies.
