Angola Supreme Court Seizes Assets of Former President’s Daughter, Once Africa’s Richest Woman

The Supreme Court of Angola has ordered “preventive” seizure of $1 billion in assets held by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died last July.

Isabel dos Santos, once hailed as the richest woman in Africa, has long been pursued by the Angolan government on corruption charges, and this is not the first time her assets have been seized.

The new order to seize dos Santos’ assets was filed on December 19, but not reported to the public until Portuguese media disclosed its details on Tuesday. Angola was a colonial possession of Portugal from the 16th Century until it gained independence in 1975. 

It has become something of a joke in Portugal that the former colony is now the colonizer, as Angolan oil wealth has been spent by its ruling elite to buy up Portuguese goods, Portuguese real estate, and more than a few Portuguese politicians. 

Angolans, in turn, say Portugal has become the “laundromat” for the dirty billions of their rulers. Angola became one of the most corrupt countries in the world under President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled as president from 1979 to 2017. Dos Santos was given a great deal of leeway by the international community for turning Angola away from Marxism, and he used it to enrich his family and allies. Angola’s elites are rich beyond belief, while the average wage for much of the population works out to about two dollars a day.

Isabel dos Santos, now 49, was often touted as a potential successor to her father’s long reign, but she preferred to bill herself as an “independent businesswoman and private investor.” Her private investments included outsize stakes in Angolan companies and the top post at Sonangol, the state oil company – a gift from her father in 2016 that was quickly taken back by his handpicked successor and former defense minister Joao Lourenco, who styled himself as an anti-corruption crusader and focused much of his crusade on the Dos Santos family and its billion-dollar nepotism.

Isabel’s brother Jose Filomeno “Zenu” dos Santos was convicted in 2020 of embezzling $500 million from the Angolan sovereign wealth fund, which he managed from 2013 to 2018. Some Angolans hailed his five-year prison sentence as a first strike against the previously untouchable corruption of the “royal family,” while others accused Lourenco and his administration of waging a political vendetta, or picking off Zenu because he was low-hanging fruit.

The big prize was Isabel, whose net worth was estimated at over $3.5 billion before her father lost power and her empire began collapsing. She was no longer considered a billionaire or included on the Forbes list of richest Africans as of 2021.

A 2020 investigation accused her of siphoning hundreds of millions of public dollars out of Angola and stashing them in offshore corporations. She was also accused of fraud, influence peddling, money laundering, and funneling public expenditures into companies she held major stakes in.

Isabel claimed these allegations were “extremely misleading and untrue,” and dismissed the supporting documentation as mere “fabricated documents.” She describes herself as a victim of “political persecution” when talking to international journalists.

Interpol reportedly issued a red notice for her arrest in November 2022 at the request of Angolan prosecutors. 

The Dos Santos family stays far away from Angola these days; her father was living in Barcelona, Spain at the time of his death, while Isabel could be living at posh estates in London or Dubai, or on her $35 million yacht. She could also seek refuge in Russia, as she was born in Azerbaijan during the Cold War and has Russian citizenship. Jose Eduardo dos Santos was given a state funeral in the Angolan capital of Luanda in August, but Isabel did not attend, fearing she would be arrested.

“There are indications of embezzlement, influence peddling, economic participation in business and money laundering, foreseen and punishable,” Angolan state media said after news of the new billion-dollar Dos Santos asset seizure became public. 

The seizure included bank accounts, securities, and shares in several major companies, including overseas entities like Mozambican telecom company MStar. Angolan media reports suggested the Supreme Court order was kept secret for several days in order to prevent Dos Santos from selling or moving the assets.