{"id":238296,"date":"2023-07-03T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=238296"},"modified":"2025-01-10T13:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T13:45:34","slug":"director-mismanagement-enabled-isabel-dos-santos-to-illegally-divert-millions-dutch-court-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/07\/director-mismanagement-enabled-isabel-dos-santos-to-illegally-divert-millions-dutch-court-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Director \u2018Mismanagement\u2019 Enabled Isabel dos Santos to Illegally Divert Millions, Dutch Court Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The daughter of Angola\u2019s former authoritarian president siphoned 52.6 million euros from Angola\u2019s state oil company into a business she controlled.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Congolese art collector and businessman Sindika Dokolo in 2018. ICIJ<\/p><\/div>\n

19 Jun 2023 – <\/em>Mismanagement by directors and forged documents enabled Isabel dos Santos to illegally divert 52.6 million euros from the Angolan state oil company to one owned by her and her husband, a Dutch court has ruled.<\/p>\n

The Enterprise Chamber, a special division of the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam, found the money had been siphoned from oil company Sonangol via Dutch private limited companies to benefit dos Santos.<\/p>\n

The ruling echoes findings by ICIJ and partners in the Luanda Leaks investigation<\/a> and validates a damning report from a court-appointed director of Esperaza Holding BV<\/a>, a vehicle used by Sonangol to buy shares in Galp, the Portuguese energy firm.<\/p>\n

That report concluded that the 2006 sale of 40% of Esperaza to Exem Energy BV, a company owned by dos Santos\u2019s husband, Congolese businessman Sindika Dokolo, was \u201can act of corruption\u201d and should be voided.<\/p>\n

The Enterprise Chamber ruling, which is yet to be published, was shared with ICIJ by the Dutch publication NRC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Esperaza is a holding company in which Sonangol held all the shares. At the end of 2006, Sonangol sold 40% of its Esperaza shares and delivered them to Exem, of which dos Santos and\/or her husband Dokolo had always been the ultimate beneficial owners, the court said. Dokolo died in October 2020 in a diving accident off Dubai.<\/p>\n

Dos Santos is the daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Angola from 1979 until September 26, 2017. She and her allies benefited from lucrative deals<\/a> in oil, diamonds, telecommunications, banking and real estate under his rule.<\/p>\n