Isabel dos Santos
25 January 2020
This is an update of the storey published on 22 January 2020 under the title “Former President’s daughter in corruption scandal”.
This is an update of the storey published on 22 January 2020 under the title “Former President’s daughter in corruption scandal”.
After the Luanda leaks, dos Santos hired US lobbying firm Sonoran Policy Group with two contracts worth $2.2 million. The first contract was signed on 13 December 2019, a day after reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Sonoran are well known as a Trump-tied lobbying firm. They made a lot of business on their connections with the administration.
The first contract was signed by dos Santos herself while the second was signed by Mario Leite da Silva, a key dos Santos aide who has been named as a suspect in Angola’s criminal investigation into her empire.
Sonoran lobbied against US sanctions for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sonaran took $5.4 million from the Saudi government in 2018 but there is no record of what they have done for Saudis.
dos Santos hired Sonoran through a Lisbon-based firm called Terra Peregrin. Luanda Leaks documents show that Terra Peregrin was connected to a controversial dos Santos-owned offshore company called Wise Intelligence, which received millions in state contracts and subcontracted all the work to Boston Consulting Group and PwC.
Quartz reported.
Quartz reported.
dos Santos knew that the easiest way to launder money was through an own bank. So, she bought stakes in two Portuguese banks, EuroBic and BPI Banco Português do Investimento. These two banks were ready and willing to work with dos Santos. BPI, for instance, agreed to open an account for a shell company in the Isle of Man even though it did not have any presence in that country. Isle of Man regulators found $50 million appearing in the BPI account coming out of nowhere. BPI account was used to buy a floor of a luxury building in downtown Monte Carlo, which cost about $60 million.
PwC and Eurobic announced that they were severing all connections with dos Santos related companies. In the UK, BBC’s Panorama programme carried a half-hour program on Monday detailing how dos Santos had exploited her country making billions in the process.
Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha, 45, who managed the account of oil firm Sonangol in EuroBic bank, was found dead at one of his properties in Lisbon. A police source told Portuguese media that everything points to suicide.
