Search Results for: Zenú

Ex-President dos Santos and His Son’s Billion-Dollar Scam

Before agreeing to step aside after 38 years in power, Angola’s former President, José Eduardo dos Santos, made sure he obtained guarantees of permanent immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed during his time in office. For Angola’s ruling party MPLA and lawmakers, it was a pragmatic necessity: how else could Dos Santos be persuaded to step aside? The man had an international reputation as one of Africa’s most zealous kleptocrats, using his position to enrich himself and his extended family. Six months on, however, a complex international investigation into an attempted US $1.5 billion fraud involving his son José Filomeno dos Santos “Zenú” has put Angolans openly discussing whether the Dos Santos family en masse should have those immunity guarantees removed. His son is firmly in the sights of criminal investigators who have documentary evidence that it was his father who oversaw the attempted scam. The Weakest Link As […]

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Valter Filipe and José Filomeno dos Santos indicted

José Filomeno dos Santos (son of former presidente José Eduardo dos Santos, known as Zenú), and the former governor of the National Bank of Angola, Valter Filipe, were indicted two weeks ago by the Attorney General’s Office for their involvement in the 500-million-dollar fraud. This refers to the transfer last September of 500 million dollars from the National Bank of Angola to an account with Crédit Suisse in London as a guarantee for a supposed funding of 30 billion dollars. In fact, as already investigated by Maka Angola early in January the operation would turn out to be a fraud against the Angolan State that was carried out by José Filomeno dos Santos. To carry it out, he used his dummy company, Mais Financial Services. London’s financial authorities suspected the fraud and blocked the funds in London. The referred transfer led to the resignation, on October 27, of the then […]

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Angolan Central Bank US $500 Million Swindle Foiled

The latest episode in the long-running saga of the alleged plunder of Angola’s public coffers has just come to light. Thanks to the diligence of British financial watchdogs and a change of regime in Angola, what is alleged to have been an attempt by the former President’s son to divert US $500 million, with his father’s blessing, looks to have been halted at the eleventh hour. Full details of the alleged fraud have yet to be revealed, but information confirmed by separate sources indicates that the new Angolan President João Lourenço has taken steps to reclaim the funds which have been frozen pending the outcome of an international investigation. A spokesman for the UK’s National Crime Agency told us: “We can confirm that the NCA’s International Corruption Unit is investigating a case of potential fraud against the Angolan government.” The NCA spokesman said they could not provide any further details […]

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A London Law Firm Won’t Stop Us Exposing Those Who Swindle Angola

My job is to investigate and expose human rights abuses and large-scale corruption in Angola. It’s not just my job – I have dedicated my life to this fight for justice in my native land. Inevitably this makes me a target for harassment by the current regime and the judicial system it controls, such as the Criminal Investigation Service (Serviço de Investigação Criminal – SIC) and the Office of Attorney-General of the Republic (Procuradoria-Geral da República – PGR). These minor irritations are part and parcel of the kind of work done by social justice activists the world over. Abroad, in Western democracies such as Portugal, people are often surprised that the Angolan government, which has been repeatedly branded as a dictatorship, doesn’t use violence to the same extent as other dictatorial regimes to silence critics. Perhaps they are unaware that extrajudicial execution is a commonplace event in Angola. I am […]

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Stealing with Presidential Decrees

When Angola’s President decreed in 2012 that the north-western enclave of Cabinda should have a deep-water port, it was heralded as a private sector deal that wouldn’t cost the Angolan state a single cent. The estimated US $540 million construction costs would be funded by private investors and banks. For once, there was no Angolan public sector involvement contemplated. That proved to be a chimera. In fact, the entire Caio Port (Porto de Caio) concept seems to have been a vanity project involving the President’s son, José Filomeno dos Santos known as Zenú and his very close friend and financial mentor, Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais. And sadly, the project is bleeding millions upon millions of dollars from the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund controlled by Zenú. A very ‘private’ port The proposal for Cabinda’s deep water port at Caio was first announced in a 2012 presidential decree as a wholly private-sector […]

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Isabel Spells Danger for Angolan Banks

When the United States warns of the risks of handing control of Angola’s banks to politically exposed people (i.e. President José Eduardo dos Santos, his family members, and the Generals who back him), this is not an idle warning. It’s because the USA know the President is planning to transfer control over the BFA (Banco de Fomento Angola) to his daughter, Isabel, and that once he does so, the Presidential group’s control over almost the entire Angolan banking system will be in place. How so? According to African Business Magazine’s list of Africa’s Top 100 Banks in 2015, the five largest banks in Angola were: Banco Económico (BE – Economic Bank), Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI – Angolan Investment Bank), Banco de Poupança e Crédito (The Savings and Credit Bank), Banco de Fomento de Angola (BFA – Development Bank of Angola) and Banco BIC (BIC – The International Credit Bank). […]

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Letter to the President: Our Soldiers Need Bread

  Comrade President of the Republic of Angola, Commander-in-Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces, President of the Peoples’ Movement for the Liberation of Angola: Excellency: it is with great sadness that I must inform you of a dangerous mood of unrest in the ranks of the Angolan Armed Forces, the FAA. Your soldiers have empty bellies. Their units are so deprived of equipment and supplies that many have no boots; even their uniforms are ragged. In contrast, their most senior commanders ostentatiously flaunt their wealth. Is there any other country that has so many millionaires, even billionaires, serving in the high command? Your soldiers are not blind to the surplus of luxury enjoyed by their Generals while lower ranks are deprived of a living wage, unable even to provide bread for their families. The men can no longer stay silent about the corrupt behaviour of the men who lead them. […]

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Rescuing the Angolan Economy

President José Eduardo dos Santos admits Angola is running out of money but he has yet to outline any sort of rescue plan.  Is Angola teetering on the precipice of economic disaster?  Or is it already in the abyss? In spite of international entreaties to diversify the economy and reduce its dependence on imports, the MPLA government has so far failed to make meaningful changes to ensure self-sufficiency.   So if the national bank has run out of money to pay for imported goods, what is the alternative? How can the government guarantee a continued supply of food to the Angolan people?  Are they to starve? Can the President tell us where he expects to find the resources to avert calamity? With Angola already having to service billion dollar loans, the President may have run out of collateral. Clearly his generation of governing officials won’t have to bear the burden of […]

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Dos Santos Kleptocracy is Out of Control: Everything for the Daughter

Has Angola’s President José Eduardo dos Santos lost his bearings?  Recent events suggest he is in the process of arranging a dynastic succession. His first-born daughter, Isabel dos Santos, has accumulated three major public projects: first, the Urban Redevelopment Master Plan for the capital city, Luanda; second, the Restructuring of the National Oil Company Sonangol (the largest state-owned company); and, finall, the Commission for the Restructuring of the Oil Sector. Isabel dos Santos is estimated to have become a billionaire (many would say thanks to her father) and has more than thirty companies to manage.  Why does the president need to hand over these major public undertakings to her? Could it be that she has extraordinary managerial and leadership abilities? Or not? Maka Angola has already outlined Isabel dos Santos’s likely intentions with the Master Plan for Luanda.  As things stand, Isabel will have ultimate control over an astonishing US $15 billion of funds for the […]

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President’s Speech Nabs Another Political Prisoner

The activist Antonio Diogo de Santana Domingos “Magno”, 38, will be spending his fifth day in preventive detention because he tried to get into the Angolan National Assembly to listen to the State of the Nation speech,  delivered on  October 15th by Vice President Manuel Vicente. Domingos Magno, as he is known, did not even manage to get within 200 meters of the National Assembly.  Maka Angola has spoken to several relatives, friends and police sources to account for what happened. The activist was detained soon after 10 am by two state security agents who had been following him.  This happened soon after he got a press pass from the company NCR, which should have allowed him into the National Assembly building. After his detention, agents accompanied by special forces from the police went to the Fourth Police Station in Maianga where he was interviewed alone by State security agents. […]

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