An appeal by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos to overturn an order freezing her assets in the United Kingdom has been rejected by London’s High Court. The decision was announced by Reuters this Monday and marks another setback in the process facing the businessman, brought by the Angolan telecommunications operator Unitel, in which he was the majority shareholder.
The case in question relates to fraudulent loans made by Unitel to Dutch company Unitel International Holdings (UIH) in 2012 and 2013. At the time, Isabel dos Santos was director of Unitel and owner of UIH, which, despite its name, had no direct connection with the Angolan operator. The businesswoman lost control of Unitel in 2020, but is still a full owner of UIH.
In December last year, Judge Robert Bright of London’s High Commercial Court issued a global freezing order on Isabel dos Santos’ assets. “There seems to be a clear argument in favor of freezing his assets globally,” Lusa news agency reported. The decision has now been upheld by the London High Court, which dismissed the businessman’s appeal.
Lawyers representing Unitel argue that Isabel dos Santos harmed the company by lending UIH 323 million euros and 43 million dollars (about 38.5 million euros at the current exchange rate), according to the Macca Angola website. As far as the Angolan operator is concerned, Isabel dos Santos’ decision to lend this money was aimed solely at her personal benefit and was a breach of her duties of diligence, care and loyalty to Unitel.
Also, Unitel says that since the end of 2019, UIH has not paid any interest on the loan since the beginning of 2020. The businessman claims to be the victim of “political persecution” carried out from the presidential palace in Luanda. The President of Angola, Jono Lorenzo. Isabel dos Santos blamed this campaign of repression on the alleged illegal seizure of UIH’s assets for its inability to repay loans.
Currently, Isabel dos Santos lives in Dubai, where she has managed to avoid a request for temporary detention by the Attorney General of Angola until the end of 2022. At the time, Angolan authorities requested a “red notice” from Interpol. A request to assist in locating and temporarily detaining a person pending deportation, surrender, or similar legal proceedings. However, the UAE does not have an extradition treaty with Angola, which has made it difficult to execute the warrant.
According to the Center for the Study of Economic and Social Development in Africa (CEDESA), the UAE is not complying with its “international legal obligations”, perhaps because it has “become a point of global refuge and reception” for many politically exposed people, receiving large incomes for this security role.
The businessman, who previously held several interests in Portugal, sold his entire stake in the European Bank (42.5%) to Galician bank Abanca in July this year. The transaction was the last vestige of his influence in the country, where he also had interests in Calf, Efacec and NOS.
On the other hand, asset recovery by the Angolan authorities is difficult. In August, four Angolan civil society organizations – Mãos Livres, Omunga, Pro Bono Angola and Uyele – sent letters to the Attorney General of Angola, Helder Pita Gros, and Portugal, Lucilia Cago, expressing their “concern”. No agreement was reached on the return of confiscated assets from Isabel dos Santos in Portugal.
Jurist Rui Verde said in a statement to VOA in August that Angola faced many difficulties in recovering assets abroad. “On the one hand, the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola has no experience in dealing with these matters – this is obvious – and on the other hand, the states do not want to see millions leave their GDP. , their markets finance.”