Isabel dos Santos

Not to be confused with Isabel Santos.

Isabel dos Santos
Santos in 2019
Director of Sonangol
In office
2 June 2016 – 17 November 2017
PresidentJosé Eduardo dos Santos
João Lourenço
Personal details
Born
Isabel Kukanova dos Santos

(1973-04-20) 20 April 1973 (age 51)[1]
Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union[2]
CitizenshipRussia[3] and Angola
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2002; died 2020)​
Children3[4]
Parents
Relatives
Alma materKing's College London
OccupationBusinesswoman

Isabel Kukanova dos Santos ([izɐˈβɛl duʃ ˈsɐ̃tuʃ]; born 20 April 1973) is an Angolan businesswoman, the eldest child of Angola's former President José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country from 1979 to 2017.[5]

As early as 2013 Forbes described how dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies doing business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth came almost entirely from her family's power and connections.[6][7] Since 2018, the Angolan government has been trying to prosecute Isabel dos Santos for corruption that may have led to Angola's ongoing recession.[8] On 30 December 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court ordered the freezing of dos Santos's Angolan bank accounts and the seizure of her stake in local companies, including Unitel (Angola) and Banco de Fomento Angola.[9] Two weeks later, the Angolan Government announced it had prepared the legal battle to confiscate dos Santos's assets in Portugal,[10] a process that is operative in the form of letters rogatory sent to Portugal to stop the transfer of funds from Portuguese Commercial Bank to a Russian bank.[which?][11]

As of January 2020, she was under investigation in Portugal and has since taken on the United Arab Emirates as her official country of residence.[12][13][14] In December 2021, the US State Department barred Dos Santos and her immediate family from entering the United States, citing "significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit".[15][16][17] Once considered Africa's richest woman according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth exceeding US$2 billion, she was dropped from the magazine's list in January 2021 after the freezing of her assets in Angola, Portugal and the Netherlands.[18] In 2021 a French court ruled that she was liable to pay $340 million to the Portuguese company PT Ventures.[19] On 18 November 2022, Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest.[20] In December 2023 her assets were frozen following a hearing at the High Court in London.[21]

  1. ^ Fernandes, Filipe S. (2016). "Isabel dos Santos – Segredos e poder do dinheiro" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2016.
  2. ^ "In the spotlight: Isabel dos Santos, Angola's 'princess'". France24. 23 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Isabel dos Santos muda-se para o Dubai, um novo paraíso fiscal". Jornal Expresso. 3 January 2020.
  4. ^ Burgis, Tom (29 March 2013). "Lunch with the FT: Isabel dos Santos". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  5. ^ "José Eduardo dos Santos, who plundered Angola, dies at 79". Washington Post. 8 January 2022.
  6. ^ Dolan, Kerry A. (14 August 2013). "Daddy's Girl: How An African 'Princess' Banked $3 Billion in a Country Living On $2 Per Day". Forbes. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  7. ^ "Isabel dos Santos desmente acusações de enriquecimento ilícito feitas pela Forbes". Económico. Archived from the original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Gestão da Sonangol: PGR mandou instaurar processo criminal contra Isabel dos Santos". ANGONOTÍCIAS. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Angola orders Isabel dos Santos asset seizure". BBC. 31 December 2019.
  10. ^ "Governo angolano prepara confisco de bens de Isabel dos Santos em Portugal" (in Portuguese). Angola24horas. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  11. ^ Norinha, Vítor (3 January 2020). "De bestial a persona non-grata" (in Portuguese). Jornal Económico. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  12. ^ Simões, Lígia (10 January 2020). "Exclusivo. DCIAP investiga operações de Isabel dos Santos denunciadas por Ana Gomes" (in Portuguese). Jornal Económico. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Angola: Cidadã russa Isabel dos Santos imune à extradição?" (in Portuguese). DeutscheWelle. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Portugal: la justice ouvre une enquête sur Isabel dos Santos" (in French). 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Isabel dos Santos: Angolan billionaire hit with US visa restrictions". BBC News. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  16. ^ "Angola: Isabel dos Santos, 'Dino' and 'Kopelipa' sanctioned by US". The Africa Report.com. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Isabel dos Santos, Subject of Luanda Leaks, Barred from U.S. for 'Significant Corruption'". PBS Frontline. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference Forbes21 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Dolan, Kerry A. (22 January 2021). "Former Angolan Billionaire Isabel Dos Santos Is Liable For $340 Million Payment After French Court Ruling". Forbes. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Interpol issues arrest warrant for Angola's Isabel dos Santos, Lusa reports". Reuters. 19 November 2022.
  21. ^ "Angolan billionaire hit with £580m asset freeze". BBC News. 20 December 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2023.