London, Sept. 30, 2024 (Lusa) - Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos had an appeal against the worldwide asset freeze worth £580 million ordered last year rejected on Monday by the British justice system.
In a decision by the Court of Appeal published today, a panel of three judges unanimously decided to reject the application to proceed with an appeal, favouring the company Unitel, now controlled by the Angolan state, which had requested an asset freezing order.
At issue are loans made by Unitel, Angola's largest mobile telecommunications company, founded in 1998 by the daughter of the former President of the African country José Eduardo dos Santos, worth €323 million and US$43 million (€38.5 million at the current exchange rate) between 2012 and 2013 to Unitel International Holdings B.V. (UIH), a holding company personally owned by Isabel dos Santos.
Unitel, of which the businesswoman was a director until 2020, started legal action against UIH in 2020 to recover the money because payments for the repayment of the loans had stopped a few months earlier, to which it associated Isabel dos Santos' name.
In December 2023, Judge Robert Bright ruled in favour of Unitel and issued a worldwide freezing order on the businesswoman's assets worth £580 million (€697 million) to cover interest on arrears and compensation for damages, as well as ordering her to pay court costs.
Isabel dos Santos has had her accounts and assets seized in several countries following legal proceedings in Angola and other jurisdictions.
At the time, the judge realised that Isabel dos Santos' assets were affected by freezing orders in other jurisdictions, requested by the Angolan state, PT Ventures SGPS S.A., a Portuguese company owned by the Angolan state oil company Sonangol, and Unitel.
Unitel is wholly owned by the Angolan state after it nationalised in 2022 the 25% stakes in Vidatel and 25% in Geni that were held by businesswoman Isabel dos Santos and General Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento ‘’Dino‘’.
Among the assets identified by the London Commercial Court in December 2023 were real estate in the United Kingdom, worth up to £33.5 million (€40 million), in Monaco, worth $55 million (€49 million), and in Dubai, worth $40 million (€36 million).
In the same case, the existence of several bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Angola, Portugal, the British Virgin Islands and South Africa was mentioned, as well as the value of UIH's shares in the ZOPT holding company, shareholder in the telecommunications company NOS, frozen in favour of Unitel following a case in Portugal.
Daughter of the former Angolan president and previously considered the richest woman in Africa, Isabel dos Santos, who has lived outside Angola for several years, is accused of 12 offences in a case involving her management of the state oil company Sonangol between 2016 and 2017.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism revealed in 2020 more than 715,000 files, under the name Luanda Leaks, detailing alleged financial schemes by Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, who has since died, which enabled them to take money from the Angolan treasury through tax havens.
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