Isabel dos Santos hits out over UK’s ‘filthy money’ sanctions

Isabel Dos Santos was educated at private schools in the UK during Angola’s civil war and graduated from King’s College London as an electrical engineer

Getty Images Close-up of Isabel dos Santos with ringlet braids - taken in Dubai in 2021 — Isabel Dos Santos was educated at private schools in the UK during Angola’s civil war and graduated from King’s College London as an electrical engineer

Angolan tycoon Isabel dos Santos, once dubbed “Africa’s richest woman”, has hit out at the UK for imposing sanctions on her, telling the BBC the shift came as a shock as she had not been found guilty of “any corruption in any court in any country”.

Last month, the daughter of Angola’s former president was described by the UK government as a “notorious kleptocrat” and slapped with an property freeze and trip ban for allegedly siphoning riches out of oil-wealthy Angola.

She said Angola’s government was behind a campaign to tarnish her image.

“It’s political at the complete of the day,” Dos Santos, 51, told the BBC Africa Daily podcast from her base in Dubai.

“There was not an inquiry, where somebody came and investigated and looked at evidence or asked me to explain. There was no due procedure,” she said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the sanctions on Dos Santos as part of his campaign to crack down on “filthy money”.

A government statement alleged she had “systematically abused her positions at state-run companies to embezzle at least £350m [$442m], depriving Angola of resources and financing for much-needed advancement”.

A spokesperson for Angola’s attorney-general said it was not a political institution and only investigated evidence of alleged criminality. They said she had been accused of several crimes and so needed to defend herself.

A spokesperson for the British foreign office said that under Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations, the UK could “designate an person where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is or has been involved in solemn corruption”. They also pointed out that anyone sanctioned could inquire for a review at any period.

The allegations against Dos Santos, which she denies, were first made in 2020 when BBC Panorama reported on leaked documents that had been shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The exposé , known as “Luanda Leaks”, alleged that one of the most suspicious deals had been made via a London-based business.

Dos Santos, the eldest daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos – in power from 1979 to 2017 – was educated at private schools in the UK during Angola’s long civil war.

After graduating from King’s College London as an electrical engineer, she took up an office job at a consultancy firm in Europe.

But in her early twenties, Dos Santos decided she wanted to pursue a more entrepreneurial career back home, telling the BBC she started out by delivering crates of beer – Uber style – to restaurants and shops.

She went on to construct a huge business empire, setting up a mobile phone business, a satellite TV operator, a commercial financial institution, a brewery and a cement factory – with stakes in other companies in Angola and Portugal.

A month before her 40th birthday, she made it to Forbes magazine’s wealthy list and was not only said to be Africa’s richest woman but also the continent’s youngest billionaire.

Dos Santos told BBC Africa Daily she never thought of herself in that way but did view herself as a “pioneer”.

“I’m also my country’s largest private employer. I’ve created over 200,000 jobs. I’ve been one of my country’s largest taxpayers and contributed the most to construct Angola’s economy.”

In 2016, she was controversially put in fee of the struggling state-owned oil firm, Sonangol. Her appointment was challenged by critics at the period but the Supreme Court stood by it, she said.

“I did have a track record in the private sector. I have a particular knowledge of turning around companies… that are not doing well, to drive them to efficiency.”

Some of the most solemn allegations of corruption against her date from her period in fee of Sonangol.

Within months of her father stepping down in 2017, she was sacked by his chosen successor, President Joao Lourenço, and two years later her assets were frozen.

The former first daughter of Angola believes Lourenço, who targeted the Dos Santos household as part of an anti-corruption drive, has betrayed her father: “He started blaming the history, saying that everything that happened before him was impoverished.

“But he himself is from the [ruling] MPLA, he was the vice-president of the event. He was minister of defence.

“If anything, I ponder he had a lot more to do with the Angolan economy and the Angolan selection-making and the political selection-making than most Angolans.”

Dos Santos is also angry that despite her assets being frozen in Angola five years ago, the case has not yet been heard in court – something she says would usually happen within, at most, 18 months as it is a civil case that tends to involve allegations of unpaid debts. She says she faces no criminal proceedings.

She also alleges that the original freezing order was based on faked documents, including a passport in her name bearing the signature of late martial arts specialist Bruce Lee.

The spokesperson for Angola’s attorney-general said they would not discuss the details of any ongoing legal disputes in community but said that any evidence that documents had been falsified should be presented in court.

By 2021 Forbes had dropped her from its list of top billionaires – Dos Santos explains that the property freeze means she can no longer get distribution payments and is barred from receiving any monetary contributions from her companies.

The mother of three has also had to contend with personal losses over the last few years – her husband died in a diving accident and when her father died in 2022, she did not leave back to Angola to attend his funeral.

If she were to profitability to Angola, she may well face arrest – at the government’s behest, Interpol has issued a Red Notice, which is a request to “locate and provisionally arrest” someone, however it is not an international arrest warrant.

Dos Santos says after these challenging years and further property freezes, she now wants people to listen her side of a “complicated” narrative to “hopefully commence clarifying the misconceptions that exist”.

When asked if she would ever stand for the presidency, she said it was “a possibility” – echoing comments she made to the BBC four years ago.

“Look, I will always serve my country,” she said. “To navigator is to serve, and I aspiration to serve Angola, whether it’s in politics, or whether it’s in business, whether it’s in philanthropy, or population.”