It is no longer this time of Isabel dos Santos, dubbed the ” princess of Luanda “, the daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola from 1979 to 2017, but Irene Alexandra da Silva Neto, the daughter of the previous, the first president of Angola, Antonio Agostinho Neto, died in Moscow in 1979. Or rather her husband, Carlos Manuel de Sao Vicente, at the head of a multitude of insurance companies and reinsurers, domiciled in Angola, Bermuda and the United Kingdom. Only point in common between the two reigning families : hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been pumped into the coffers of the country.
Antonio Agostinho Neto as José Eduardo dos Santos are from the popular Movement for the liberation of Angola (MPLA), an organization of anti-colonialist marxist-leninist party, which was allied at the time with the USSR and Cuba. Irene Alexandra da Silva Neto has been a member of parliament and vice-minister of the Cooperation. As for her husband, Carlos Manuel de São Vicente, an economist by training, he found himself at the head of a giant of the insurance in Angola, the group AAA, very linked to Sonangol, the state-owned oil company of Angola. As summarized in the site investigation Gotham City, which reveals the matter, by presidential decree, ” José Eduardo dos Santos, entrusted the monopoly of the management of risks of the petroleum activity in the country to Sonangol. It would have then transferred this activity, as well as the management of its pension funds, to the group AAA. “
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transfer to 212,9 million
Active in the banking, oil, real estate, telecommunications, Isabel dos Santos weighed in before its fall, up to three billion dollars. The daughter of former president Neto and her husband juggle them also with the billion. In November 2018, the public Ministry of geneva receives from the Office of communication in the field of money laundering a communication of ” suspected money laundering “. Carlos Manuel de São Vicente was fired in September 2018 on his personal account 212 900 000 dollars with only the words ” Transfer of funds “. As pointed out by the Court of justice of Geneva, it is “unusual” that a president of board of directors ” has in its favour funds belonging to a public limited company, in addition to an insurance company regulated by the State “. In total, this is more than a billion dollars who have passed on the accounts of the family.
The public Ministry of geneva has therefore accused the man of affairs of angola for money laundering and he has sequestered around $ 900 million. Since 2018, the affair would not be noised abroad if Carlos Manuel de São Vicente, which rejects the charges of money laundering brought against him, had not gone before the Court of justice to unlock his prize. On 9 July, the criminal Chamber of appeal has dismissed the claims, stressing that at this stage of the investigation, ” the clues of the commission of a criminal offence in the hands of the prosecution are sufficient to justify the retention of the receiver “.
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If the justice angolan responds
However, the swiss justice refers to ” financial transactions complex economic background difficult to understand “, and recognizes that the progress of the investigation ” depends in large part on the result of the rogatory commission sent to Angola “. However, Luanda has still not responded. It is not certain that the justice of angola meets one day in switzerland. Furthermore, if the african country itself does not criminalise the boss of the group AAA, it will be difficult to continue to prosecute for money laundering. In fact, for there to be money laundering, it is necessary to prove that there has previously been a crime, in the case of misappropriation of funds.
Carlos Manuel de São Vicente is not yet completely helpless. The Court of justice tells us that” he was released from the disposition of a portion of its assets following the partial lifting of the receivership, April 18, 2019 “. The modest sum of about $ 200 million. What they need to survive, him and his family for some time. Contacted by The Point of Africa, Clara Poglia, the lawyer of Carlos Manuel de São Vicent, told us Monday morning that his ” client
firmly challenges the charges against him. He confirms that he has always acted in accordance with the law “. Furthermore, it considers that ” any publication in connection with the procedure violates the principle of the presumption of innocence and the right to the protection of the personality “.
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