It’s been nearly three years since ICIJ’s Luanda Leaks investigation
exposed how decades of corrupt deals turned Isabel dos Santos into
Africa’s wealthiest woman – and drained hundreds of millions in public
money out of one of the world’s poorest countries.
Since then, the Angolan billionaire’s business empire has largely been
dismantled, battered by investigations in multiple countries, frozen
assets, lawsuits, audits and more sparked by ICIJ’s reporting.
Now, Isabel dos
Santos herself is wanted for arrest by the international police
organization Interpol.
The agency issued a “Red Notice” request, which is a call to law
enforcement worldwide “to locate and provisionally arrest a person
pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.”
Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s ex-president who autocratically
ruled the country for decades, has homes in Dubai and London and is
believed to visit Portugal often.
Sources in Lisbon report that in the warrant, Interpol alleges dos Santos
created corrupt financial mechanisms “with the intention of obtaining
illicit financial gains and whitewashing suspicious criminal operations.”
The Luanda Leaks
investigation meticulously showed how unscrupulous deals were cut and
lucrative assets funneled away through a labyrinth of
companies and subsidiaries, many of them offshore, with the help of Western
financial advisers. One of the standout insider deals was made with
Angolan state oil company Sonangol.
Interpol’s warrant reportedly accuses dos Santos of acting upon
information she had obtained as then-head of Sonangol.
SHADOW
DIPLOMATS WORLDWIDE
ICIJ media partners investigated honorary consuls tied to their
countries, unearthing
cases of wrongdoing by the part-time diplomats and a
critical lack of government oversight.
INVESTIGATIVE TRAINING
ICIJ’s research editor Emilia Díaz-Struck will be taking part in upcoming
training opportunities for investigative journalism. On Wednesday, Nov.
23, Arab Reporters
for Investigative Journalism is hosting a webinar on how to involve
non-data journalists in collaborative data reporting (in
English and Arabic). And on Saturday, Nov. 26, ICIJ partners in Chile are
hosting Festival
CIPER for citizens interested in investigative journalism
(in Spanish).
LAST WEEK
TONIGHT
ICIJ’s recent Trafficking
Inc. investigation was highlighted in a segment of Last Week Tonight with
John Oliver about human rights violations committed
against foreign workers involved in Qatar World Cup efforts and the role
of the kafala system in the labor behind the games.
Thanks for reading!
Asraa Mustufa
ICIJ's digital editor
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