According to a citation order, to which Lusa had access, Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, now deceased, allegedly embezzled 52.6 million euros from Esperaza in 2017.
Esperaza is a company under Dutch law, at the time controlled 60 percent by the state oil company and 40 percent by Exem Energy, a company 100 percent owned by Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, who died in 2020. Esperaza owns 45 percent of Amorim Energia, which in turn is Galp Energia's largest shareholder, with 33.34 percent.
A preliminary report of an investigation by an expert of the Court of Amsterdam, dated 31 October 2022, concluded that Esperaza's alleged "diversion" of 52.6 million was based on deliberations with "false" dates, so they are "null, and that the businesswoman Isabel dos Santos acted "in an obvious conflict of interests".
The deliberations are "null", because they were taken after Isabel dos Santos was removed as president of Sonangol, and, in addition, the businesswoman carried out legal acts on behalf of the Angolan oil company, while she held that position, which benefited her companies, according to the same document.
The Chamber of Businesses, the special section of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal with jurisdiction over corporate law cases, ordered this investigation into Esperaza’s policies and business in a period beginning January 1, 2017, at the request of Sonangol and Esperaza itself.
According to the order of summons presented by Esperaza on 15 July 2022, the "deviation" took place in 2017, when the current Head of State, João Lourenço, dismissed Isabel dos Santos as president of Sonangol, for the which she had been appointed in 2016 by her father, when he was still President of the country.
In the period before her dismissal, but "especially immediately after it", Isabel dos Santos carried out "a series of operations" with the help of those who, according to the order, were her "facilitators" to "extract more than 130 million dollars from Sonangol and 52.6 million euros from Esperaza".
The purpose of the complaint now presented is to obtain a judgment establishing the defendants' liability, as well as an order for them to compensate Eaperaza for the damages suffered and to be suffered, that is, that Esperaza be compensated for the 52.6 million euros, plus interest and court costs.
The alleged embezzlement of the 52.6 million, according to the citation order, took place on November 17, 2017, when the Angolan businesswoman had already lost control of Esperaza, and had been dismissed as president of Sonangol, which took place on November 15 of that same year.
As part of this process, Isabel dos Santos, her banks BIC Cabo Verde and EuroBic, as well as one of her right-hand men, the Portuguese Mário Leite da Silva and his partner in the bank Fernando Teles, and 10 other entities were notified to appear before a Dutch court on 23 March 2023.
Isabel dos Santos and "her facilitators" managed to divert that amount from Esperaza, relying on "null and ineffective deliberations of Exem". Then, they diverted it and "hid it without leaving any trace in Isabel dos Santos' money laundering network", the order reads.
Contacted by Lusa, the businesswoman stated in writing that "the 52.6 million euros correspond to dividend payments to Esperaza shareholders that were duly authorized at the general meeting, with a favorable vote by Sonangol". She explained that, therefore, "there was no 'deviation' of 52.6 million from Esperaza in 2017 or at any other time".
Isabel dos Santos clarified that "Esperaza, a Dutch company, whose capital is 60 percent held by Sonangol and 40 percent by Exem, deliberated and approved the distribution of dividends in 2017. Both shareholders received their dividends. and paid taxes in the amount of 11.5 million euros on dividends distributed".
She also mentioned that Exem filed, in September 2021, at the Court in Amsterdam, "an appeal to annul the arbitration award that reviewed her rights in Esperaza", adding that this appeal is in progress.
The businesswoman says that "Exem is convinced of the success of the appeal and that it will obtain a decision in its favor".
In the response sent to Lusa, the businesswoman also guarantees that "during the restructuring of Sonangol, between June 2016 and November 2017", when she was chairman of the oil company's Board of Directors, "they were not 'extracted' by 'facilitators' or by Isabel dos Santos more than 130 million dollars from Sonangol or any other amount".
"Sonangol's restructuring works and projects cost the company around 130 million. These restructuring works by the Sonangol group, which has more than 90 companies, were recognized as having been carried out by the Lisbon Central Criminal Instrução Tribunal, in November 2021, there being no more doubts about this issue", he underlined.
"This is the same 130 million referring to the restructuring of the Sonangol group, which had more than 80 first-rate external consultants, coming from Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, PWC and VDA. These external consultants have publicly confirmed that they received the payments for services provided and delivered to Sonangol between 2016 and 2017, in a value of around 130 million dollars", concludes Isabel dos Santos
