Africa-Press – Angola. The Supreme Court determined the preventive seizure of assets and financial values in a global amount of one billion dollars (USD 1,000,000,000.00) of the businesswoman and former CEO of Sonangol Isabel dos Santos, based on various bank records.
Thus, the Court clarifies, pursuant to article 9 of Law no. 15/18, of December 26, article 17 and no. 1 of article 31 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, that the seizure is embodied in: 100% of its shareholdings in the company EMBALVIDRO-Indústria (SU) LDA, in which Isabel dos Santos was the sole beneficiary.
The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, in the order signed by Judge Daniel Modesto Geraldes on the 19th of this month, indicates that all balances of current account accounts titled or co-titled (or where he appears as a proxy and/or authorized ), headquartered in all banking institutions, including time deposit accounts, other financial investments that are associated with them, including securities dossiers in the name of the defendant Isabel dos Santos.
In this order, the Court also authorized the seizure of 70 percent of shares in the company UPSTAR Comunicação and 70 percent of two shares in MSTAR, SA were also taken. telecommunications company in Mozambique. In both situations, the defendant was the beneficial owner.
Likewise, 100 percent of the companies UNITEL T+ in Cape Verde and UNITEL STP, SARL in São Tomé and Príncipe and Isabel dos Santos’ shareholdings in the companies UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV and UNITEL INTERNACIONAL BV were also 100 percent seized.
IGAPE INDICATED AS A LOYAL DEPOSITARY
In this order, the Court appoints the trustee of the shareholdings of the companies mentioned above, with the exception of the company EMBALVIDRO- Indústria (SU), Lda, that the Boards of Directors themselves be appointed. Therefore, it requests, as EMBALVIDRO’s trustee, that the Institute for the Management of Assets and Participation of the State (IGAPE) be appointed, pursuant to subparagraph i) of Article 4 of Presidential Decree No. 72/20, of 29 March.
Regarding the advantages of the unlawful act, he refers that they strongly indicate that UNITEL SA is an Angolan commercial company, incorporated on 25/08/1999, with headquarters in Luanda-Angola, and whose corporate purpose is the installation, operation and provision of services telecommunications and other complementary related activities.
Until recently, UNITEL SA was held by four shareholders each with 25% of the share capital, namely: MERCURY-MSTELECOM-SERVIÇOS de TELECOMUNICAÇÕES, SA, a subsidiary of the Angolan public company Sonangol, EP;
VIDATEL LTD, incorporated on 12/14/1999, with headquarters in the British Virgin Islands, whose beneficial owner is Isabel dos Santos; between 12/14/1999 and 11/16/2017, Tatiana Cergueevna Regan, mother of Isabel José dos Santos, was the sole director of VIDATEL LTD; as of 26/11/2017, Luís A. Davis was appointed as president and director of the company in question and Pamela D. Haal as treasurer, secretary and director;
GENI, SA, whose beneficial owner is General Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento; and, PT VENTURES SGPS, SA, a company incorporated under Portuguese law, owned until January 2020 by AFRICATEL HOLDING, BV, the latter a subsidiary of the Brazilian telecommunications operator OI, SA
PREVIOUS ARREST
In December 2019, the shares of UNITEL SA held by VIDATEL LTD were seized by the Angolan court, under case no 3301/2019-C. In January 2020, Sonangol EP acquired the UNITEL SA shares that belonged to PT VENTURES SGPS, SA.
Currently, the shares of VIDATEL LTD and GENI, SA have been seized by SENRA, due to the following facts: Sonangol, EP, on an undetermined date, started a telecommunications project with the objective of obtaining the GSM license for mobile telephony, having entered into a contract with the English company Ericsson, for the manufacture and installation of the respective equipment;
In this context, a working group was created consisting essentially of Sonangol, EP employees; All the investment for the installation of the GSM network infrastructure was carried out by Sonangol, whose calculated amount exceeds USD 48,736,157.00. However, after the completion of the project, for reasons still unknown, strangely the GSM network license was not awarded to Sonangol, which is actually the real investor, having been handed over to UNITEL SA;
Essentially, the only shareholders of UNITEL, SA were PT VENTURES SGPS, SA, VIDATEL LIMITD and GENI, SA. The fact is that the aforementioned shareholders, with the exception of PT VENTURES SGPS, SA, never made any payment in favor of Sonangol by way of return, having only received invoices referring to the acquisition of equipment and other expenses which they paid and recognized as charges, investments and obligations.
As a “consolation prize”, Sonangol, EP, through the company Mercury, became a shareholder in UNITEL, after entering into an exchange contract, becoming the holder of 25% of the share capital;
In other words, the investment for the creation of UNITEL SA belonged exclusively to Sonangol and it became a partner through its subsidiary Mercury, with exactly the same number of shares as other shareholders.
Concluding that given that the initial investment belongs to Sonangol, the proceeds of the business (dividends) should also belong to the State and not delivered as they were for years to GENI and VIDATEL LIMITED. There are clearly indications of the crime of embezzlement, influence peddling, foreseen and punishable, under the terms of articles 362o, 364o, of the CP and 82o of Law no 5/20, of 27 January, respectively.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Supreme Court clarifies, by the way, that Isabel José Eduardo dos Santos was a member of the Board of Directors of UNITEL SA from 02/28/2001 to 08/11/2013, having been chairman of the same Board between 05/2/2013 and 03/19/2019. It mentions that Manuel Domingos Vicente, as a representative of MERCURY, was Chairman of the Board of Directors of UNITEL from 28/02/2001 to 6/03/2012. Between 1999 and 01/30/2012, Manuel Domingos Vicente was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sonangol, EP.
It adds that Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento, in addition to being a shareholder of GENI-SA, was Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly of UNITEL from 9/08/2013 to 7/05/2020, the date on which he became vice-chairman of the General Assembly.
Given the proximity of positions with GENI and MERCURY and given the impossibility of intervention by PT VENTURES, Isabel José dos Santos held control of UNITEL SA, which enabled her to forward large millions of euros from UNITEL, SA, to entities under your sphere.
Isabel dos Santos also transferred sums from UNITEL, SA, to UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV, a company based in the Netherlands, incorporated on 05/04/2012, registered on 05/07/2012, and controlled by Isabel dos Santos herself. Santos, its only effective beneficiary. At the time of its constitution and until 4/12/2012, indicates the order of the Supreme, UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV, held the corporate name JADEIUM BV.
AGREEMENTS
Indeed, between May 8, 2012 and August 28, 2013, seven financing agreements were entered into between UNITEL SA and UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV, through which the former lent the latter the total amount of 322,979,711.00 euros and 43,000,000.00 dollars, amounts that UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV has undertaken to refund within a period of 10 years from the date of execution of each of the contracts, as shown in the table below.
Isabel dos Santos signed the aforementioned financing agreements, simultaneously acting as the legal representative of UNITEL, SA, and UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS BV According to the Court, according to the Court, these loans allowed UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS BV to acquire shareholdings or set up companies in the telecommunications sector in Portugal, Cape Verde (UNITEL T) São Tomé and Príncipe (UNITEL STP, SARL), namely the acquisition in Portugal of shares corresponding to 18.81% of the share capital of the Portuguese commercial company ZON MULTIMÉDIA SERVIÇOS DE TELECOMUNICAÇÕES AND MULTIMEDIA, SGPS, SA
Upon the merger, by incorporation of the Portuguese commercial company OPTIMUS SGPS, SA into ZON MULTIMÉDIA SERVIÇOS DE TELECOMUNICAÇÕES E MULTIMÉDIA, SGPS, SA, which gave rise to the Portuguese commercial company currently known as NOS SGPS, SA, the company ZOPT SGPS was created, SA which became the holder of shares corresponding to 52% of the share capital of NOS SGPS, SA
However, UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS BV owns shares corresponding to 32.65% of the share capital of ZOPT SGPS, SA It is verified, attests to the order, that the euro account of UNITEL INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS BV, has the IBAN PT50001000004852048150159 , received, moreover, amounts originating from an account of the same company, domiciled in Amsterdam, at ING BANK, with the number NL28INGB065348141, namely: in addition, the engineer Isabel dos Santos, as she is an effective beneficiary of VIDATEL LTD, a company shareholder of UNITEL SA, just by way of dividends, around USD 654 million were transferred to Portugal.
Thus, it is clear that UNITEL was set up with public funds from Sonangol and the dividends that would fall to the State were paid to the defendant Isabel dos Santos, through her company VIDATEL LIMITED, allowing her to use it in setting up other businesses.
CRIME OF EMPLOYMENT
The Criminal Chamber emphasizes the facts briefly described, indicating the following evidence: documents from Sonangol, UNITEL SA, Rogatory Letters from Holland and Portugal, processing of data resulting from the financial analysis carried out by SENRA.
It adds that there are also indications of the crime of embezzlement, influence peddling, economic participation in business and money laundering, foreseen and punishable, under the terms of articles 362.o, 366.o, 364.o of the CP and 82.o of the Law n.o 5/20, of January 27th, respectively.
The assets were seized based on the applicability of the asset guarantee measure, as shown in the brief factual description above, it appears that the benefits of the crime determined so far amount to USD 1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars) corresponding to the value of the sums that the defendants illegally appropriated.
In addition to this amount, damage in the amount of 1,136,996,825.56 (one billion, one hundred and thirty-six million, nine hundred and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five US dollars and fifty-six cents).
Accordingly, in the absence of the possibility of appropriating benefits in kind, the defendants should be sentenced to pay the State the respective value of these direct benefits, under the terms of article 120 et seq. of CP
To guarantee the payment of such amount, calculated under the terms of article 120 and ss. of the C,P, determines the preventive seizure of the assets that it has in its assets, under the terms of article 9 of Law 15/18, of 26 December.
This measure must be applied immediately and without prior hearing of the persons concerned. As regards the need to apply asset guarantee measures without prior intervention by the person concerned, the Judgment of the Court of Justice of Portugal (Grand Chamber) of December 21, 2011 (delivered in case C-27/09 P) states that “In effect , for a measure of this type not to compromise its effectiveness, it must, by its very nature, be able to benefit from the surprise effect and be applied immediately”.
The application of preventive arrest is not subject to the general requirements enshrined in art. 286.o of the CPP. Insofar as Law No. 15/18, of December 26, refers in art. 9.o no 3 that the arrest is decreed by the Judge.
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