The decision was dictated by the Business Chamber, a special department of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal which concluded that the money was diverted from Sonangol through Dutch public limited companies to benefit Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo (who died in 2020, in Dubai, due to an accident while diving).
The sentence is quoted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which was at the origin of the case that became known as "Luanda Leaks" and had access to the document - not yet published - through the Dutch newspaper NRC.
The businesswoman justified the appeal by noting that the court did not analyze "relevant documents submitted by the defence, documents that could significantly and substantially change the decision rendered, unequivocally demonstrating the material veracity of the facts in question".
"These documents will be presented in the appeal, demonstrating the truth and existence of the minutes of Sonangol, including the corresponding and real deliberations that, for unknown reasons, were ignored", stressed Isabel dos Santos in a publication on the social network Instagram.
The daughter of former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos also underlined that the court's decision results from "a lack of knowledge of normal business functioning".
The Dutch court's decision supports the ICIJ investigation and validates a damning report by a court-appointed director of Esperaza Holding BV – a vehicle used by Sonangol to buy shares in Portugal's Galp.
The report concluded that the 2006 sale of 40 percent of Esperaza to Exem Energy BV, a company owned by Sindika Dokolo, was the result of an "act of corruption" and should be annulled.
At the end of 2006, Sonangol sold 40 percent of the shares it held in Esperaza and handed them over to Exem, a company whose final beneficiaries were Isabel dos Santos and her husband.
ICIJ points out that Isabel dos Santos and her partners benefited from lucrative businesses linked to oil, diamonds, telecommunications, banks and real estate under the government of José Eduardo dos Santos, who remained in power for almost 40 years.
After his father left the presidency, a position assumed by his successor João Lourenço, currently in his second term, Sonangol challenged in court the legality of the acquisition of Exem's 40 percent stake in Esperaza, a dispute resolved in favor of Sonangol, in 2022 , by a Dutch arbitration body, which annulled the acquisition for being "contrary to public order and good customs".
On November 15, 2017, the newly elected President João Lourenço dismissed Isabel dos Santos as president of Sonangol, in the context of the fight against corruption that she assumed as her electoral flag.
At Sonangol's request, in 2020, the Business Chamber ordered an investigation into Esperaza's business from 1 January 2017.
The court concluded that the businesswoman signed false resolutions to channel 52.6 million euros in dividends from Esperaza Holding BV to her own company and that she tried to hide these illegal transfers, with dates prior to her dismissal.
The court said it was established that "every person who signed one or more decrees knew that these were retroactive" and that the company's directors should have realized that Isabel dos Santos was trying to make a quick payment of dividends, through forged resolutions. and retroactive.
"The decision is an interim step in the long attempt by state-owned Sonangol to recover the stolen millions", adds the ICIJ.
