"In fact, being an important company, being a technologically advanced company and being in a situation where if nothing was done, the company could break", "this decision was taken, which we will now continue to monitor in coordination with the Angolan authorities", said Pedro Pessoa e Costa, on the sidelines of the ceremony to hand over to the Angolan authorities a set of equipment to fight the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the ambassador, the matter is recent and awaits further information, but given the size of the company it was necessary to take a position.
The Council of Ministers approved, Thursday, the decree to nationalize "71.73 per cent of the capital of Efacec", a Portuguese company that "constitutes an international reference in sectors vital to the Portuguese economy.
"The state intervention seeks to make the continuity of the company viable, guaranteeing the stability of its financial and operational value and allowing the safeguarding of around 2500 jobs", justified the Minister of the Portuguese Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, in the press conference of the Portuguese Council of Ministers.
This process stems from the departure of Isabel do Santos, daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos from the capital of Efacec, following the involvement of her name in the 'Luanda Leaks' case, in which the International Investigative Journalism Consortium revealed, on 19 January, over 715 thousand files detailing alleged financial schemes of the businesswoman and her husband that allowed them to withdraw money from the Angolan public treasury through tax havens.
The Angolan businesswoman had entered the capital of Efacec Power Solutions in 2015 after buying her position from Portuguese groups José de Mello and Têxtil Manuel Gonçalves, who are still shareholders in the company and are currently facing serious financing difficulties due to the shareholder crisis.
