Angolan Prosecutor Denies Talks With Dos Santos on Asset Freeze
Angolan Prosecutor Denies Talks With Dos Santos on Asset Freeze
(Bloomberg) -- Angolan prosecutors denied they were in talks with Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, whose local assets have been frozen and faces criminal charges.
“The prosecutor’s office doesn’t have a position, manifestation or an act in progress regarding to any negotiation initiative with Isabel dos Santos,” the office said in a statement on Sunday. The criminal probe against her is continuing, it said.
An Angolan court froze the local assets of Dos Santos, those of her husband and of one of her executives in December after prosecutors alleged that they engaged in irregular transactions with state-owned companies that led to the government incurring losses of $1.14 billion.
Dos Santos is seeking an agreement that would involve returning money to the Angolan state in exchange for the asset freeze being lifted, and had initiated discussions with prosecutors, the Portuguese weekly newspaper Expresso reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified person linked to her.
Dos Santos, who is the daughter of the southern African nation’s former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has denied any wrongdoing and said she is the victim of a political vendetta.
To contact the reporter on this story: Candido Mendes in Luanda at cmendes6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Mike Cohen, Shaji Mathew
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