Wikipedia Commons /    Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former Angola president José Eduardo dos Santos

By  Gary   Raynaldo    –   DIPLOMATIC   TIMES

The international police agency INTERPOL is seeking the arrest of Isabel dos Santos, an Angolan tycoon who was formerly Africa’s richest woman. Interpol has issued a “red alert” for authorities to locate and detain dos Santos, according to a report by Reuters.   Interpol issued the Red Notice following a request from Angolan prosecutors. Interpol said a Red Notice request was a call to law enforcement worldwide “to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.”  Ms. Dos Santos is the daughter of Angola’s former president José Eduardo dos Santos.  In 2020, the Angolan government of President Joao Lourenço  ordered the assets and banks account of Isabel dos Santos to be frozen.  Angola is seeking to reclaim $1 billion that Isabel dos Santos and her associates allegedly owe  as part of an anti-corruption drive launched by her father’s successor has targeted the former first family’s assets. She has been accused of fraud, embezzlement, influence peddling, and money laundering.  The Angolan court was acting in a graft investigation looking at alleged irregularities involving state companies, including the oil giant Sonangol which Isabel dos Santos used to run, and a diamond-marketing firm, Sodiam.   It is alleged that the billionaire and her allies  used political connections to benefit  from lucrative deals in oil, diamonds, telecommunications, banking and real estate.  In 2017,  José Eduardo dos Santos’ nearly 40-year grip on power ended with the election of President Lourenco, who made cleaning up past corruption a priority in his new administration of of the oil-rich, but poverty-stricken  Southern African nation. 

Isabel dos Santos denies the corruption charges, says they are ‘politically motivated’

The 48-year-old , nicknamed “the princess”, lives abroad, saying she moved from Angola because her life had been threatened. Ms. Dos Santos, who reportedly shuttles between London, United Arab Emirates and Portugal, has steadfastly denied the corruption charges. She maintains they are politically motivated. 

“The allegations against me are without substance and based on fake evidence and a series of fabricated emails,”  Ms. Dos Santos said after the Angolan government froze her assests.