Angola exposé: The money chase

By Patrick Smith, Zoe Eisenstein

Angolan Twitter went wild – mostly cheering – when the Lourenço government froze the assets and accounts of Isabel Dos Santos in the country last December. The courts claimed she and her art dealer husband Sindika Dokolo had caused over a billion dollars of losses to the Angolan state. "The Princess" Despite a fortune reckoned at around $2.2bn – many say a gross underestimate – she cultivates a homespun image. An associate recalls their first meeting when Isabel was sitting by a swimming pool in flip flops and a bathing suit. Yet “the Princess” symbolises the failures of her father’s four-decade rule. Isabel dos Santos, left, with Fernando Teles, former CEO of Angolan bank BIC, Americo Amorim, and former CEO of Corticeira Amorim, during the opening of an art exhibition featuring works from the collection of her husband and art collector Sindika Dokolo in Porto, Portugal on March 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte). Her constant social media posts, taking on Lourenço, senior Angolans and Portuguese anger many. She dismissed advice from public relations advisors, friends and even her husband to rein it in. “She’s at the top of the pyramid of what was happening in this place. She’s the highest exponent, she’s as good as it got,” said a top official in Luanda. “And she was visible and extravagant – they got reckless towards the end. So it’s only normal that people want to see her blood.” Angola versus Dos Santos Angolan officials are doing battle with Dos Santos across the world. They want the United States to impose sanctions on Isabel to bar her from visiting the US and her companies from using US dollars. Last June, Angola signed a $4.1m contract with Washington DC lobbyist Squire Patton Boggs to push its case against the Dos Santos clan. Isabel’s business empire spans several continents but her banking options have shrunk over the last decade. Banks, such as Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Santander will not work with her. Uria Menéndez, the Spanish law firm she retained in Portugal has dropped her. “She’s asked everyone here if they will work for her,” a legal source in Lisbon said. “She thought she was above the law and untouchable but she’s now become literally untouchable - none of the serious firms will go anywhere near her.” Assets frozen In February her Portuguese bank accounts were frozen. Angola’s attorney general has said he will issue an international warrant against Dos Santos if she fails to cooperate with investigations. The charges on the warrant would include: ‘money-laundering, influence-peddling, harmful management … forgery of documents … and other economic crimes,’ he said. At the centre of the charges against Dos Santos are claims that she used her position as chairwoman of Sonangol, Angola’s state oil conglomerate, to make illicit payments via Eurobic bank in Portugal, in which she was the main shareholder, to companies in Dubai controlled by her friends. Luanda Leaks Journalists who have seen a close-guarded cache of 750,000 hacked documents say that she and her associates had ordered millions of dollars of payments to be made after the Lourenço government had sacked her from Sonangol on 15 November 2017. Angola's state oil company Sonangol in Luanda, Angola August 26, 2012. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko Nuhna Ribeiro da Cuhna, who managed Sonagol’s account at Eurobic, was found dead in his garage in Lisbon after local media linked him to Dos Santos’s business operations. Business sources close to Eurobic in Lisbon told us that the dates and timings of the documents seen by the journalists were forged. That could become the subject of a drawn-out legal fight. But it doesn’t settle the conflict of interest raised by Dos Santos’s controlling stake in Eurobic. Insisting on her innocence, Isabel promises to fight through the courts. She had hired Schillings, London-based lawyers and reputation managers who acted for the Gupta family at the heart of South Africa’s state capture scandal, and is threatening to sue journalists behind the Luanda Leaks reports for defamation. The government is guilty of a “concentrated and well-coordinated attack ahead of elections,” said Isabel. “Stolen documents have been leaked selectively to give a false impression of my business activities … all my commercial transactions have been approved by lawyers, banks, auditors and regulators”. Yet those auditing firms have launched their own probes. A top executive resigned from PwC over the affair. Spanish bank Abanca has bought 95% of Eurobic, including Isabel’s share. Over a dozen senior officials working for her companies have quit. And in early April, a Lisbon court ordered the “preventive seizure” of Dos Santos’s 26% stake in Portuguese telecoms company NOS, reported Bloomberg News on 4 April. This followed a generalised freeze in February of all the bank accounts held by Isabel in Portugal; that was in response to a request from the Angolan authorities for judicial cooperation. "Sliver of a chance" Legal experts in Luanda and Lisbon say there is a sliver of a chance that Isabel's representatives might offer to return some funds to Angola. But her closest associates insist she would never return to Luanda to negotiate. A settlement between both parties might be possible, said a consultant with knowledge of the transactions. “You would need the host country to be pulling their finger out to prove that funds that are abroad belong to them rather than to the target and that’s a much harder task.” “Often countries have never faced this situation before, certainly where there are political families involved it’s usually a first,” says Kamal Shah, a UK-based lawyer who has taken on several politically-charged asset tracing cases in recent years. “Generally the targets are a couple of steps ahead of those that are chasing them because they tend to have the best professional advisors”. One of Isabel’s biggest vulnerabilities, according to an expert on Angola’s finances, is her companies using state backing in Luanda to get loans in Portugal to buy large stakes in companies there. “There are difficulties with that in legal terms,” he adds. "Likewise, there are problems with a loan that Dos Santos took in US dollars from Sonangol but tried to repay in Angolan kwanza.” "A purely legal route in getting back the assets"? However, he raises doubts about the viability of a purely legal route in getting back the assets. “Asset tracing is a huge job. Knowing where this stuff is is a big form of pressure. But if she says I’m never moving back to Angola, she could hold out for a hell of a long time. That’s her option. There’s a real issue there.” Jonathan Benton, a former head of the UK government’s international Corruption Unit who now runs a asset-tracing company called Intelligent Sanctuary, agrees that tracking the Dos Santos assets would be an enormous task and investment in time and labour. “A case like this is not that simple (for the UK) … it may require a team of twelve working full-time to try and gather the necessary evidence. Valuable resources I don’t believe they have at present.” That leaves the ball very much in Angola’s court – to invest in a professional forensic investigation and apply as much diplomatic pressure as possible. All that has been made much harder by the global public health crisis this year. The African Report

Police arrest Bishop for allegedly raping 19-year-old lady in Delta

Police detectives from the Warri Area Command, Delta State have arrested the Founder/General Overseer of Victory Revival Fasting & Prayer Ministry, Bishop Elijah Orhonigbe for allegedly raping a nineteen-year-old girl (names withheld) in Warri.

The popular Cleric who is cooling his heels in the police cell in ‘A’ Division Warri, was arrested on Friday, June 5. Confirming the arrest to newsmen in Warri, the Warri Area Commander of the Nigeria Police, ACP Mohammed Muktar Garba, said the cleric was arrested following a complaint by the mother of the victim at his office.

ACP Garba noted that the mother of the victim is a member of the church where her daughter was allegedly raped by the said Bishop.

“The woman brought the lady to the church pastor. I think what really happened is that the pastor drugged that lady and raped her. I personally took the lady to the hospital because she was in coma for two (2) days.

“We are looking for this pastor for the past three weeks. Later on, used my detectives to trace where he hides and I got him arrested and am charging him to court now.

This is somebody that I arrested since Friday. He has been in cell Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today Monday, I am charging him to Court,” ACP Garba said.

The Nation

FG declares June 12 public holiday

The Federal Government has declared Friday, June 12, as public holiday to mark this year’s Democracy Day Celebration.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola who made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government congratulated all Nigerians at home and abroad for the entrenchment of democratic rule in the country.

The Minister commended the heroes of democracy for their dogged determination and sacrifice which eventually birthed Democratic Governance in Nigeria.

Youths protest shutting of Niger Delta ministry in Imo

Scores of the youths of the oil producing communities in Imo State on Monday stormed the state liaison office of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in Owerri, demanding that the office be opened to the people of the state.

The youths had stormed the office and met the gates of the office under locks and keys

Acting under the aegis of Niger Delta Youth Movement, the aggrieved youths alleged that the office had remained close for over two years with the staff only coming to the work any time there were visits by officers from Abuja.

They accused the state coordinator of the ministry of renting rooms in the office out because of lack of workers.

Speaking to journalists at the office at Number 27 Okigwe Layout, Owerri, leader of the youths, Prince Iyasara Ifeanyi alleged that the youths of the oil producing communities had not been able to access whoever is the state coordinator or any other workers in the past two years

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney joins George Floyd protest near White House: 'We need to stand up and say that black lives matter'

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney joined a group of protesters Sunday near the White House, becoming the latest politician to rally in the wake of the death of George Floyd and one of the most prominent Republicans.

While marching, Romney told an NBC reporter, "We need a voice against racism. We need many voices against racism and against brutality. We need to stand up and say that black lives matter."  

USA TODAY

Statue of slave trader Edward Colston torn down in Bristol, England

The renewed push to remove racist monuments in the United States spread across the Atlantic on Sunday when Black Lives Matter protesters toppled the statue of a British slave trader. The statue of Edward Colston was removed in the city of Bristol Sunday, with protesters pulling it off its pedestal, kneeling on its neck in acknowledgment of the death of George Floyd and then tossing it into the harbor. Historians estimate Colston’s company was responsible for the selling of approximately 100,000 slaves to America and the Caribbean in the late 17th century.

Source:Yahoonews

Saudi Arabia considers limiting haj pilgrims amid COVID-19 fears

Saudi Arabia could drastically limit numbers at the annual haj pilgrimage to prevent a further outbreak of coronavirus after cases in the country topped 100,000, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Some 2.5 million pilgrims visit the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina for the week-long haj, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. Official data show haj and the lesser, year-round umrah pilgrimage earn the kingdom about $12 billion a year.

Saudi Arabia asked Muslims in March to put haj plans on hold and suspended umrah until further notice.

Two sources familiar with the matter said authorities are now considering allowing "only symbolic numbers" this year, with restrictions including a ban on older pilgrims and additional health checks.

With strict procedures, authorities think it may be possible to allow in up to 20% of each country's regular quota of pilgrims, another source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Some officials are still pushing for a cancellation of the haj, expected to start in late July, the three sources said.

The government media office and a spokesman for the haj and umrah ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Limiting or cancelling haj will further pressure government finances hit by the plunge in oil prices and the pandemic. Analysts predict a severe economic contraction this year.

The kingdom halted international passenger flights in March, and on Friday it reimposed a curfew in Jeddah, where haj flights land, after a spike in infections in the city.

In 2019, around 19 million pilgrims attended umrah while haj drew 2.6 million. An economic reform plan of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to increase umrah and haj capacity to 30 million pilgrims annually and generate 50 billion riyals ($13.32 billion) of revenues by 2030.

(This story corrects penultimate paragraph to say curfew was reimposed in Jeddah on Friday, not Sunday, and to say international flights were suspended in March, not on Sunday.)

Source: Reuters