“There has been a full and absolute willingness of the engineer Isabel dos Santos, through her lawyers, to keep in constant contact with the courts and the processes existing in the various countries, so the intention of the Attorney General’s Office to issue an international arrest warrant is manifestly unjustifiedl “, declared the source, in a reply sent to Lusa.
On Thursday, the Angolan attorney general, Helder Pitta Grós, admitted the possibility of moving, “in coordination with Portuguese judicial entities”, to issue an arrest warrant against businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, investigated for money laundering. capitals.
“We have been working in tune with the Portuguese authorities, all the work that the last few days have been made public is a work that is being done in complete harmony between Angola and Portugal at the level of the judicial entities, and if by chance there is a need to we get to that point [emissão de mandado] together we will see how to proceed “, he said.
According to a source linked to the businesswoman, this intention is, however, “a maneuver of media entertainment aimed at diverting the attention of public opinion to the procedural and legal abuses that Angolan justice has committed” and that “run over” constitutional law access to a fair process.
Isabel dos Santos is being investigated in Angola in the context of civil and criminal proceedings, in which the State claims values in excess of five billion dollars (4.6 billion euros).
The Angolan businesswoman, the daughter of ex-President José Eduardo dos Santos, was the target of a seizure of bank accounts and stakes in Angola, and stakes in several companies in Portugal were also seized.
Isabel dos Santos, who denies all accusations and says that she is the target of a “politically motivated attack”, said earlier that she intends to challenge the decision to seize assets by the Portuguese court, taken on the basis of the European Court of Human Rights. process of the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola.
In December 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court decreed the preventive seizure of personal bank accounts by Isabel dos Santos, her husband, the Congolese Sindika Dokolo, and the Portuguese Mário da Silva, in addition to nine companies in which the businesswoman holds stakes, for alleged private businesses that would have hurt the Angolan State.
In January, the International Investigative Journalism Consortium also revealed more than 715 thousand files, under the name ‘Luanda Leaks’, which detail alleged financial schemes by Isabel dos Santos and her husband, which will have allowed them to withdraw money from the Angolan public purse. through tax havens.
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