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Defense

Isabel dos Santos' company confirms investigation by Dutch authorities and says nothing owes Sonangol

Exem Energy, a company owned by Isabel dos Santos and Sindika Dokolo which holds an indirect stake in Galp, has confirmed that it is the subject of an investigation by the Dutch authorities in connection with Sonangol, but guarantees that it owes nothing to the oil company.

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In response to Lusa, after the Dutch newspaper "De Volkskrant" reported that the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating the company of Isabel dos Santos' husband, Sindika Dokolo, through which the daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos is an indirect shareholder of Galp, an official source of Exem Energy, confirmed the information, stressing that the investigation is "welcome" and will be an opportunity to "clarify several falsehoods and unfounded allegations".

According to Exem, the investigation aims to investigate whether there are family relationships that may have influenced the signing of contracts, partnerships or business relations between this or others related to Sindika Dokolo and Sonangol, at the time when Manuel Vicente was chairman of Sonangol's board of directors.

Exem is a 40 percent shareholder in Esperaza Holding, in which Sonangol holds 60 percent. The joint venture owns 45 percent of Amorim Energia, which in turn is a reference shareholder of Galp.

Exem says it agreed the investment and participation in Galp with Américo Amorim in 2005 having paid its shares in Esperaza, worth approximately 75 million euros, in two installments: 11.5 million euros paid at the signing of the contract and 64 million euros plus interest paid in October 2017, in kwanzas, at the exchange rate of the day, "nothing owed to Sonangol for the entrance in the capital of Esperaza and of this in Galp".

According to the same source, the payment in kwanzas was made following an agreement between the two shareholders of Esperaza (Exem and Sonangol) to bring forward the payment of the debt to October 2017, since the remaining debt only matured in December 2017.

Isabel dos Santos, who was president of the oil company for about 18 months until she was exonerated by José Eduardo dos Santos' successor, João Lourenço, will have tried to make payment of Exem's debt in kwanzas which was rejected by the new president of Sonangol.

Carlos Saturnino "returned the amounts, indicating not to accept kwanzas, and informing that he intends to receive the amount in euros, a statement contrary to the practice of payments received by Sonangol at the time, from other entities," says Exem.

The Angolan judicial authorities contradict this statement and maintain that Esperaza was financed 100 percent by Sonangol, for a total of over 193 million euros, having lent Exem Energy 75,075,880 euros, amounts not returned to date.

"There was an attempt by the defendants to pay the debt in kwanzas, a fact that was rejected because the debt was contracted in euros and this clause resulted from the contract itself," according to the Angolan Attorney General's Office.

Exem, for its part, argues that having Sonangol agreed to receive the payment in kwanzas at the updated exchange rate, "the reason for returning the money was not understood, which generated a dispute between the parties, and an arbitration is taking place in the Netherlands".

The businesswoman, her husband and the manager and former chairman of the board of Banco de Fomento Angola, Mário Leite Silva, saw their bank accounts and holdings in several companies seized in December 2019 by order of the Luanda Provincial Court.

The measure, according to a communiqué issued by the Attorney General's Office at the time, followed an action filed by the National Asset Recovery Service.

The news from the Dutch newspaper was shared on Saturday on Rui Pinto's Twitter, which led to the revelations of the Luanda Leaks scandal, through PPLAAF, a platform for whistleblowers based in France.

Luanda Leaks refers to an investigation by an international consortium of investigative journalists (ICIJ) that revealed, through access to over 715,000 files, the alleged financial schemes of Isabel dos Santos and Sindika Dokolo, which allowed millions of dollars to be withdrawn from Angolan public funds through tax havens.

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