Isabel dos Santos was born on 20th April, 1973. She is an Angolan businesswoman and the eldest child of Angola's former President José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country as a dictator from 1979 to 2017.
Once considered Africa's richest woman according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth exceeding US$2 billion, she was dropped from the magazine's list in January 2021 after the freezing of her assets in Angola, Portugal and the Netherlands. She owes $340 million to the Portuguese company PT Ventures.
In 2013, Forbes described how dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies doing business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth came almost entirely from her family's power and connections. The Angolan government has, since 2018, been trying to prosecute Isabel dos Santos in past corruption that may have led to Angola's ongoing recession.
On 30th December, 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court ordered the freezing of dos Santos's Angolan bank accounts and the seizure of her stake in local companies, including Unitel and Banco de Fomento Angola. Two weeks later, the Angolan Government announced it was preparing the legal battle for the confiscation of dos Santos's assets in Portugal. A process that in operation in the form of letters sent to Portugal to stop the transfer of funds from Portuguese Commercial Bank to a Russian bank.
She is under investigation in Portugal and has since assumed the United Arab Emirates as her official country of residence. In December 2021, the US State Department barred Dos Santos and her immediate family from entering the United States, citing "significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit". On 18th November, 2022, Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest.
Currently, the Angola’s Attorney-General, Helder Pitta Groz has confirmed that his country has issued an arrest warrant for Isabel dos Santos. Mr. Groz said the Angolan authorities are working with Interpol to find her. She has been officially charged by Angolan authorities with mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds when she headed the state oil firm, Sonangol.
However, in an interview with one international media organization, she said that she was available for questioning. For, her address is known and her whereabouts are known. She added, “I’m not a fugitive, I’m not hiding from anyone”. She also described the accusations against her as politically motivated.
Surprisingly, the current president is one of the most trusted allies of her father and he was his chosen one to succeed him and hopefully protect his interest as most African leaders do. But after testing power, he is now exercising it to prove to the world that “he is his own man”.
Now, whether the former richest woman, according to Forbes, Isabel dos Santos is guilty or not, only time will tell as the courts speak.
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: The Untold Stories of Isabel dos Santos, former Richest Woman in Africa){kind=link}
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