“In the past few months, we have requested, through various requests, information from the Portuguese and Angolan courts on the cases. Many of these requests for information have not been answered or answered by the courts. And we have collaborated with all ongoing legal proceedings, ”an official source from Isabel dos Santos told Lusa.
Isabel dos Santos is being investigated in Angola in the context of civil and criminal proceedings, in which the State claims values in excess of five billion dollars.
The daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos was the subject of a seizure of bank accounts and shareholdings in Angola, and holdings in several companies in Portugal were also seized.
Questioned by Lusa about whether she was notified by the Portuguese or Angolan judicial authorities to respond in the context of the criminal case related to the transfer of more than US $ 100 million from Sonangol to a Dubai consultant through the Portuguese bank EuroBic or other criminal cases, official source Isabel dos Santos replied that “to date, (…) there are several cases in Portugal in the investigation phase, but no notifications have been made to individual persons”.
“Engineer Isabel dos Santos was never notified, nor called to appear, nor constituted an defendant. What is more, he was not even able to get the judge who ordered the arrest of his assets in Portugal, after more than a month, to admit his request for an appeal to the higher court, ”said the same source.
In reply to Lusa, the same source added that, despite being represented in Portugal and Angola by lawyers who "have already expressed their willingness to collaborate with the justice", Isabel dos Santos has not received "any specific request".
The source linked to the businesswoman points out that there has been “a persistent and unjustifiable obstruction to the exercise of her legal rights of defense” and accuses Judge Henrizilda do Nascimento, responsible for the arrest process No. 3301/2019-C in Angola, of prevent Isabel dos Santos' lawyers from filing embargoes on it.
As for Matter, an offshore company based in Dubai that is related to an alleged diversion of about 100 million euros from Sonangol to Dubai, when Isabel dos Santos was president of the oil company, “it is in the public domain that this was a technical operation to provide consultancy and restructuring services for Sonangol, which involved numerous service providers ”
According to the official source, among these “stand out Vieira de Almeida Advogados, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey, companies of international renown and performance, which, together with other service providers, saw the legitimate and legally paid its fees by Matter, in the amount of more than 90 million euros, after Matter has received, in accordance with the law, the respective payment from Sonangol ”.
In the last few days, the Public Ministry (MP) has made several searches in Lisbon, in the area of Porto and in the Algarve, in the scope of the investigation of the businesswoman.
According to the Correio da Manhã reported, the request of the judicial authorities to their Portuguese counterparts followed a ruling by the Supreme Court of Angola regarding management acts at Sonangol in the businesswoman's mandate. Based on this judgment, the Angolan authorities also asked the Portuguese MP for a new seizure of Isabel dos Santos' assets in Portugal.
“Unfortunately, until today, there has still been no opportunity to provide clarifications to the judicial bodies of Portugal and Angola, since they will not be proved by mere opinions or speculation, but in contracts, reports and other documents that will irrefutably contradict the defamatory and speculative campaign in progress ”, opposes the source linked to the businesswoman.
Isabel dos Santos has used her Twitter account to deny the news broadcast in the Portuguese media in recent days, denying that there is money from the Angolan State in her accounts, those of her companies and those of her husband.
