Daughter of Angola’s late former president, Isabel Dos Santos convicted of embezzlement

Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s late former president, embezzled 52 million euros from Angola’s national oil company, according to a Dutch court.

She diverted the money to a Dutch company that she owned with her husband, Exem Energy BV, the Chamber of Companies, a body attached to the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, concluded in a decision dated 15 June and made public on Thursday.

The ruling is the latest in a series of judgements against the woman once described as Africa’s richest woman.

Isabel dos Santos is accused of embezzling billions of dollars from state-owned companies during the 40-year reign of her father Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in July 2022.

“Many (legal) persons cooperated in this shameful state of affairs, which led (…) (Isabel Dos Santos) to fraudulently obtain 52.6 million euros in resources”, the court said in its ruling. The money was embezzled through dividend payments.

The accused, 50, has always denied any wrongdoing and denounced all the accusations as a politically motivated witch-hunt.