(Ecofin Agency) - Currently, under investigation for corruption in her country, Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos (pictured, right), reacted this week to the findings of a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). For the 46-year-old woman, the new investigation produced by more than 120 journalists is just another political attack by the Angolan government.

The new revelations, which are based on more than 715,000 confidential documents, exposed an alleged complex financial scheme set up by the businesswoman with the help of her husband, billionaire Sindika Dokolo. According to the authors of the investigation, the couple would have benefited from several million dollars thanks to their relationship with the national oil company (Sonangol), through companies owned by them or those close to them. More than 400 companies in 41 countries around the world are said to have enabled Isabel dos Santos to put in place a veritable system of monopolization of Angolan wealth. Numerous financial vehicles housed in tax havens would have been used by the couple to avoid paying taxes to the Angolan state.
Although the actions of the dos Santos-Dikolo couple are far from being irreproachable, the daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos said she is innocent of what she is being accused of.

“ICIJ and its media partners have had months and months to examine this alleged evidence and yet the extremely serious allegations they make against me in this deluge of reports are still based on supposition. Nowhere in the documents or in their reports have they demonstrated any illegal behavior on my part or on the part of my companies,” Isabel Dos Santos said in a written statement obtained by the Ecofin Agency.

For the former president of Sonangol, these “unfounded allegations” are nothing more than a political maneuver by the ruling power to get rid of the threat she represents. A few days earlier, the businesswoman had announced that she was considering running for the presidency of her country in 2022, stating that she was ready to do anything to 'defend and serve' Angola.
Let’s recall that the degradation of the national economy under Isabel’s father's regime, coupled with high poverty rates and numerous corruption scandals had already tarnished the reputation of the dos Santos family.
She said the “witch hunt” against her by President Joao Lourenço, who kicked off a vast anti-corruption campaign since 2017, could be detrimental to many Angolans.

“Because of this campaign of political persecution, thousands of jobs in the Angolan companies I run are at risk. I am ready to fight in international courts to defend my reputation,” she added.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou