In the document, issued on November 3 last year, Angolan authorities are calling for Angolan citizen Isabel dos Santos to be “located and arrested with a view to extradition”.
The document emphasizes this Isabel dos Santos is wanted on suspicion of “embezzlement, aggravated fraud, illegal involvement in business, criminal association and influence trading, money laundering” and is sentenced to a maximum of 12 years in prison.
The request “guarantees that extradition will be sought after the person’s arrest in accordance with national laws and/or applicable bilateral and multilateral treaties.”
Isabel dos Santos became a reference shareholder in companies such as EFACEC, BPI, Banco BIC, NOS and Galp.
The document clarifies that it is a preventive arrest warrant. “This request should be treated as a formal request for provisional arrest in accordance with national law and/or applicable bilateral and multilateral treaties.”
The international arrest warrant mentions that the businesswoman is usually based in Portugal, Great Britain or the United Arab Emirates.
According to the document, between 2015 and 2017, the businesswoman created financial mechanisms “with the intention of making illicit financial gains and glossing over suspicious criminal operations” through “information on public funds of the Angolan state” that she received as administrator of the state oil company Sonangol.
According to the arrest warrant Isabel Dos Santos is said to have caused damage to the Angolan state totaling more than 200 million euros by committing crimes of embezzlement, aggravated fraud, illegal involvement in businesses and money laundering.
The Lusa agency contacted Interpol, which forwarded information on the case to the Angolan authorities. The English and Portuguese authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the arrest warrant.
Isabel dos Santos’ lawyers consulted Interpol’s database and found no arrest warrant
In a statement accessed by RTP, an official source from Isabel dos Santos clarified that the Angolan businesswoman “has been aware for almost three years of the existence of proceedings ongoing in Portugal over facts related to the investigation, including durations in Angola, and which are aimed not only at themselves but also at related companies”.
“In these almost three years of existence of such processes at no time was a defendant constituted🇧🇷 Stand out, like any of your businesses,” emphasizes the statement.
The source also mentions that during those nearly three years, Isabel dos Santos was “formally available to make statements whenever she was subpoenaed, which happened for example in a case going on at the Banco de Portugal where on two occasions , provided that all requested clarifications have been provided”.
According to the same source the business woman is not in the uncertain partcontrary to what has been reported.
“The facts related to the time he held positions at Sonangol have not been confirmed in court on the contrary. Furthermore, no charges have been brought and therefore, even years later, it has not been possible to challenge such alleged facts and the proceedings remain hidden from the judiciary, making the exercise of the rights of the defense even more difficult. and substitute for material truth,” the statement adds.
The document ends by saying Isabel dos Santos’ lawyers have consulted the Interpol database and can be sure that there is no evidence of an arrest warrant being issued🇧🇷
(with Lusa)