Category: Corruption

President Dos Santos Illegally Inflates Daughter’s Fortune

Recently, Maka Angola published an article about Isabel dos Santos’ purchase of 65% of Portuguese power solutions company Efacec, for 200 million Euros. In reaction, the Portuguese weekly, Expresso, published a front-page article saying a large part of the money used by Winterfell to buy Efacec was financed by a Portuguese bank. This article was an attempt to dispel suspicions about the dubious source of the money.  The article raised more doubts as it became clear that the Angolan government financed the other part of takeover. The interested parties rushed the deal, and settled it on October 23. The banks that financed this “large part” are Caixa Geral de Depositos, the BCP, BPI, Montepio and BIC, according to an official press release. BCP, BPI, Montepio and BIC are dominated by Angolan capital; that is, Isabel dos Santos and Sonangol.  Therefore, this is a situation in which banks lend money to […]

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Princess Isabel dos Santos and the Looting of Angola

Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos recently gave an interview to the BBC to talk about some of the challenges Angolans face. The Princess, as she as referred to in Angola, is one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world, according to BBC. She said one of the main challenges that Angola faces is educating its people. President José Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter came across as being quite well-informed and pleasant: the beautiful face of the dictatorship. I do not doubt Isabel’s intelligence; however, I am not taken in for minute with this fairytale they are trying to impose on us. What is behind the success of this daughter of Angola’s almost life-President? There is this myth that her fortune can be traced to when, as a a six-year old child, she started selling eggs. The business, goes the myth, apparently grew from there. During a case in […]

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The Attorney General’s Office and Business Blackmailing

I am writing this letter from a hospital bed as a citizen who has been persecuted for years by the Attorney General’s Office which you lead. In 2013, some women who had had children with my father Valentim Amões — the late businessman and member of the [ruling] MPLA Central Committee – as well as one of my paternal uncles, made public statements against me, and filed several lawsuits against me as the firstborn and court-appointed administrator of the estate in a dispute over the inheritance my father had left. The lawsuits against me served as an excuse for the Attorney General’s Office, without any valid reasons, to hastily  make me formerly a  suspect, and to subject me to the following restrictions: (i.) [required to declare identity ] and residence; (ii) denied freedom  to change address (without authorization) or to leave Luanda or the country; (iii) Required to report to […]

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How Sonangol is Fabricating its Profits

For many years Sonangol was the main support of the Angolan system – especially the ruling regime, prompting many authors to refer to it as “a state within the state”, the repository of real power. Recently, there have been reports questioning the financial soundness of Sonangol; other reports have referred to a possible presidential commission meant to come up with proposal for internal changes within the company. In October 2015, the Angolan Ministry of Finance reported that income from oil exports had fallen by 44 percent in September of the same year. The figures presented by Sonangol need, therefore, to be taken seriously.  The present work resulted from an analysis of the Sonangol 2013 financial report. These raise many questions and call for a far-reaching restructuring of the company. The key question is whether the results are reliable and sustainable. In 2013, Sonangol’s results were not based on its activities, […]

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Billionaire Isabel dos Santos and Money Laundering Schemes

They may have trampled on international laws and guidelines, yet the authorities continue to apply the old maxim that the law only applies to enemies. First, the facts: In June 2015 it was announced that Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of the president of Angola with A fortune of unknown origin, would buy Efacec, a leading Portuguese engineering company . The purchase price would be € 200 million. Also in June 2015, reports were circulated that Efacec, after the purchase, would become the supplier of electrical equipment for three dams under construction in Angola, namely Cambambe and Lauca. The purchase made by the new star of the jet set of the Côte d’Azur would be made by a front company: a company that exists as a legal entity solely to do business on behalf of others. The front company set up for the purchase of Efacec is named Winterfell Industries. By […]

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The Emergence of Fascism in Angola

Allard Prize acceptance speech, Vancouver, Canada. I am deeply honored to be here today, at this great University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law and most grateful for being selected the joint-recipient of the prestigious Allard Prize for International Integrity. Sharing this Prize with John Githongo, who has always been an inspiration to me, is humbling, and a double honor.  I pay tribute to the finalists, the Indonesian Corruption Watch and the late Sergei Magnitsky, for their outstanding work. I dedicate the Prize to my family for their love and unconditional support. The journey I have taken to merit your recognition has a fine irony that I would like to share with you. In 2009, after I had finished a Master’s degree at Oxford University, I returned home, to Angola, with no prospects of getting a job.  I had become more dangerous to the power holders for I had […]

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Kenyan and Angolan Journalists Awarded Prize for Integrity

Two African journalists known for exposing corruption in their respective countries of Kenya and Angola have been named the joint recipients of the 2015 Allard Prize for International Integrity. The Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia presented John Githongo and Rafael Marques de Morais with the Allard Prize at a special ceremony last night. The $100,000 prize is one of the world’s largest awards recognizing efforts to combat corruption and to promote human rights. As joint recipients, Mr. Githongo and Mr. Marques de Morais were each awarded $50,000 for their brave efforts in protecting human rights and fighting corruption. “It is a singular honour and a humbling experience to be selected for the Allard Prize,” says Mr. Githongo. “This recognition serves as an encouragement and as an important recognition that there is across the world a partnership between all people who care about human […]

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Cement Law Benefits a Few at Angola’s Expense

There is a question so puzzling that is leaving many with open mouths. Why would a country rapidly trying to construct its infrastructure (which needs cement) suddenly ban the importation of the same material? The same country is not able to manufacture the product in the necessary quantities. This is a question that has been prompted by the recent investigation by Rafael Marques de Morais about the wheeling and dealing in the setting up of the cement manufacturer FCKS (Fábrica de Cimento do Kwanza Sul). A recent investigation by Rafael Marques de Morais, about the wheeling and dealing in the setting up the cement manufacturer FCKS (Fábrica de Cimento do Kwanza Sul), has prompted the abovementioned question. Every year, Angola needs about 7 million tonnes of cement, but the local production does not meet half of this amount. Therefore, many wondered about the rationale behind the Executive Decree no 15/14, […]

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Oil and Cement Don’t Mix With Corruption in Angola

Angolan business practices are under the microscope again after a US$800 million  government-backed cement factory suspended production, and its recently dismissed CEO announced a sell-off of shares whose ownership is in question. An investigation by Maka Angola suggests the confusion surrounding the state of affairs at the Kwanza Sul Cement Factory (Fábrica de Cimento Kwanza Sul) can be traced directly to Angola’s ‘unique’ business practices under the current MPLA government, led for the past 36 years by President José Eduardo dos Santos. The Angolan colonel who founded the company has been sacked, the operating costs have become uneconomic and the Danish company LNS in charge of running the plant says it’s owed US$20 million in unpaid fees.  Legal experts have told Maka Angola that the uncertain future of the Kwanza Sul Cement Factory (FCKS) is directly related to its tangled history. Ownership and finances as clear as mud The origins […]

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Angola’s Sovereign Fund Pays US $100 Million to a Shell Company

On 22 January 2015, Angola’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (FSDEA) transferred the sum of 9 948 750 000 kwanzas (equivalent at the time to US$100 million) to the company Kijinga S.A. This company is nothing more than a shell company set up as a front for shady transactions by Banco Kwanza Invest (BKI), a bank created by the 36-year-old José Filomeno dos Santos “Zenú”, the current chair of the FSDEA and the son of the President of the Republic. Kijinga S.A. shares an office with BKI at 150 Avenida Comandante Jika, next to the Maternity Hospital in Luanda. This address has only one business door, which opens into a small waiting room where there is a reception area and two chairs for visitors. One of these chairs is usually occupied by a security guard, in addition to the guard on duty outside the door. The windows are darkened glass, which does […]

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