Isabel dos Santos: Angola’s billionaire faces scrutiny over graft allegations

LUANDA: Isabel dos Santos, daughter of Angola´s ex president is a British-educated billionaire businesswoman, who now faces allegations of plundering the public purse and funneling the money abroad. Just under a decade ago, she became Africa´s richest woman after Forbes magazine named her the continent´s first female billionaire in 2013.

In a trove of 715,000 files dubbed the “Luanda Leaks” released at the weekend, the eldest daughter of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel is accused of syphoning state funds from the oil-rich, but impoverished country into offshore assets. The award winning New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), alleged the international system has allowed powerful individuals like her, to move assets around the world, without questions. Since her father left office in 2017, her investments in Angola and former colonial ruler Portugal, worth about $3 billion, according to Forbes magazine — are now the subject of scrutiny.