The oil-diamond and other resources-rich Angola with its impoverished majority – 70% live on less than $2 a day – has taken a step in the right direction: José Filomeno dos Santos (42), son of the former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for fraud.
He was accused of stealing $500 million from the country’s $5 billion Sovereign Wealth Fund, transferring it to a Swiss bank account. He embezzled $1.5 billion while head of the Fund from 2013 to 2018. His half-sister Isabel, said to be Africa’s richest woman, was dismissed earlier this year from her lucrative post as head of the state’s oil company Sonangol – naturally not without a sweetener. The Angolan government has moved to freeze some of her assets.
José Eduardo dos Santos was president from 1979 until he resigned in 2017, to be replaced by the man he had handpicked for the job, his former defence minister Joao Lourenço. Dos Santos had been accused of leading one of the most corrupt African regimes and amassing obscene wealth for his family. Before he resigned after 38 years, he swiftly passed legislation to provide amnesty for himself and some associates.
In August, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ revelations named “Luanda Leaks” made headlines. Innumerable documents showed how Isabel dos Santos had used government resources to accumulate her billions. A network of some 400 consultants, banks and companies were part of a cash laundry network for the Santos family. Thanks to its oil resources, Angola’s government budget had increased to $69 billion over a decade to 2012. The International Monetary Fund stated that $32 billion of oil income was missing from the government’s books. When traced, it had been labelled as having been spent on ‘quasi-fiscal activities.’
Unexpectedly, President Lourenco deprived the dos Santos clan of several of their companies. He also made several governmental changes to rid himself of dos Santos followers. However, not everyone of the known corrupted leaders has vanished. The President had himself been within dos Santos leadership. He must have been aware of the situation.
Thus, many feel that judgment should still be withheld on whether he has embarked on a path of reform or revenge for past grudges.