German court fines state bank for loan to Isabel dos Santos company

According to the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office, the penalty was imposed "for negligent violation" of the Money Laundering Act. It is a loan from KfW-Ipex-Bank, granted in 2015, which was revealed in the scope of the international journalistic research project "Luanda Leaks".

In 2015, KfW-Ipex-Bank, whose mission is to promote German exports, lent around 50 million euros to the Angolan state bank Banco de Poupança e Credit (BPC), which granted a loan to a brewery (Sodiba) controlled by daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos.

The journalistic consortium says, on its website, that the loan was used by Isabel dos Santos to buy the brewery and bottle filling equipment, acquired from the German manufacturer Krones AG.

Krones AG, questioned following the revelations of "Luanda Leaks", told reporters it was unaware that Sodiba belonged to Isabel dos Santos.

Last year, authorities in Frankfurt opened an investigation into the German bank, one of the main state-owned financing institutions, which was, however, suspended for lack of evidence, according to the newspaper.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung also said that Isabel dos Santos claimed not to be aware of the KfW loan and that the brewer had no connection with the State.

Sodiba is one of the assets seized by order of the Luanda Court in December 2019, which also includes bank accounts and shareholdings of businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, her husband Sindika Dokolo (who died last year) and manager Mário Leite da Silva .

The action of the Angolan State against Isabel dos Santos, in the scope of the civil process in which the State claims a credit in excess of US$1 billion, was filed on March 2 in the Provincial Court of Luanda.