Luanda, Nov. 18, 2025 (Lusa) - The Angolan Supreme Court has dropped three of the crimes of which businesswoman Isabel dos Santos was accused during her management of Sonangol, in the investigation phase, according to the order consulted by Lusa.
The Angolan businesswoman and daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos is accused of several offences in the case involving her management of the Angolan state oil company between 2016 and 2017.
In addition to the daughter of the former Angolan President, Paula Oliveira, her friend and business partner, her former manager and friend Mário Leite da Silva, her former financial administrator at Sonangol Sarju Raikundalia and the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are also accused in the case.
The court decided not to indict PwC for the offences it was accused of because, at the time of the facts, "the law that governed the contradictory investigation did not make legal persons criminally liable".
The defendants were exonerated of the offence of criminal association, and the offences of falsifying documents and tax fraud were found to be time-barred.
The defendants have appealed against the indictment, and the Supreme Court will re-examine the case.
The Angolan businesswoman, who currently lives in Dubai, has always maintained her innocence and claims that the case is politically motivated.
According to the indictment, Isabel dos Santos was accused of embezzlement, fraud, abuse of power, abuse of trust, document forgery, criminal association, economic participation in business, influence peddling, tax fraud, qualified tax fraud and money laundering.
The Angolan Public Prosecutor's Office points to various irregularities in the management of José Eduardo dos Santos' daughter between June 2016 and November 2017, including a parallel management scheme and contracts signed with companies linked to her, through which illegal payments were made.
According to the indictment, as part of her management and taking advantage of her status as the daughter of the President (who died in 2022), Isabel dos Santos "duly concerted with the defendants Mário Silva, Sarju Raikundalia and Paula Oliveira, meticulously created a plan to vigorously defraud the Angolan state, persuading the Board of Directors to take decisions that benefited them".
According to the initial order, dated 11 January, the defendants caused the Angolan state a loss of more than $208 million (€190 million), broken down into $176 million (€169 million), €39 million and around 94 million kwanzas (€104,000) involving unduly paid salaries, loss-making sales, tax fraud and fraudulent payments to companies.
RCR/ADB // ADB.
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