Angola moves to seize Dos Santos-linked asset in Dutch court
Angola has asked a Dutch court to hand over a half-billion-dollar stake in the Portuguese oil company Galp linked to ex-first daughter Isabel Dos Santos, its lawyers told Reuters.
Angola’s government says top officials under former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos took advantage of high oil prices in the last decade to spin a global web of business deals that led to their personal enrichment at the country’s expense.
Battered by COVID-19 economic fallout and mired in foreign debt, Angola is seeking to recover assets it says were siphoned off.
Its prime focus is Isabel dos Santos, the ex-president’s daughter, a business tycoon who became Africa’s richest woman.
The legal bid for the Galp stake has not previously been reported.
Dos Santos briefly ran state oil company Sonangol from 2016 until 2017, when her father’s four-decade rule ended.
Representatives for Isabel dos Santos, who lives outside Angola, did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.
She has denied any connection to the holding company at the centre of the case – Exem – which she says was owned by her late husband, rejects charges of wrongdoing and says she faces a political witch hunt by Angola’s new leadership.
Representatives of Exem did not reply to a request for comment. Dutch law firm Van Doorne, which represents Exem in the lawsuit, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Battered by COVID-19 economic fallout and mired in foreign debt, Angola is seeking to recover assets it says were siphoned off.
Its prime focus is Isabel dos Santos, the ex-president’s daughter, a business tycoon who became Africa’s richest woman.
The legal bid for the Galp stake has not previously been reported.
Dos Santos briefly ran state oil company Sonangol from 2016 until 2017, when her father’s four-decade rule ended.
Representatives for Isabel dos Santos, who lives outside Angola, did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.
She has denied any connection to the holding company at the centre of the case – Exem – which she says was owned by her late husband, rejects charges of wrongdoing and says she faces a political witch hunt by Angola’s new leadership.
Representatives of Exem did not reply to a request for comment. Dutch law firm Van Doorne, which represents Exem in the lawsuit, also did not respond to a request for comment.