Dos Santos prepares to sue Angolan government

Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, has denied accusations of fraud and announced plans to sue the Angolan government. 

On Wednesday, Ms Dos Santos was formally charged by Angola’s attorney general on suspicion of money laundering, influence peddling, harmful management and the forgery of documents, among other financial crimes. She was ordered to return to the country from London or face arrest. 

In a statement on Thursday, Ms Dos Santos said the accusations against her were false and politically motivated. 

“The allegations which have been made against me over the last few days are extremely misleading and untrue. This is a very concentrated, orchestrated and well-coordinated political attack, ahead of elections in Angola next year. It is an attempt to neutralise me and to discredit the legacy of President Dos Santos and his family,” she wrote. 

The allegations emerged after leaked documents showed that Ms Dos Santos was given unfair access to lucrative deals in land, oil, diamond and telecoms markets while her father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, was president. 

Ms Dos Santos maintains that the documents give a “false impression” of her business enterprises and that she has always operated within the law. 

In related news, Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha, a banker who was named as a suspect in the case against Dos Santos and others, has been found dead in his house in Lisbon. 

Mr Da Cunha managed the account for Sonangol, the state-owned oil company which Ms Dos Santos formerly chaired, at the Portuguese bank Eurobic. 

A police source told Portuguese media that “everything points to suicide.” 

Photo credit: DNYUZ