The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is celebrating its latest coup:
Isabel dos Santos, once Africa’s wealthiest woman, must surrender one of her last remaining major assets.
ICIJ’s 2020 Luanda Leaks investigation revealed how Angola’s former first daughter amassed a fortune through decades of inside deals. Among them was the controversial acquisition of a stake in an energy company from the state oil company Sonangol, which was, at the time, overseen by dos Santos’ father, then-President José Eduardo dos Santos.
Our reporting showed how a company owned by dos Santos’ husband paid an initial deposit of just $15 million for the shareholding. Its value now? An estimated $500 million.
Since ICIJ exposed these details, the deal has been embroiled in separate legal proceedings, as authorities took action in fallout from the investigation and the dos Santos business empire crumbled.
The controversy over the half-billion-dollar stake has now come to a head for dos Santos, as an international tribunal has ruled that the deal “cannot be explained but for grand corruption by the daughter of a head of state and her husband” and declared it “null and void.”
Dos Santos has been ordered to return the shares to Angola, where she’s also facing criminal charges — one of a number of countries with investigations pending against the billionaire.
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