Isabel dos Santos can be detained at any time after the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola has issued an international arrest warrant with international effect. This means that the Angolan businesswoman can be detained by the police at an airport in any country in the world, if she prepares to travel, Correio da Manhã and Lusa announced and confirmed the Observer.
In statements sent to the Observer, the Angolan businesswoman says she is false that it is to be partly uncertain and, after consulting the Interpol database, his lawyers conclude that, so far, there is no reference to the issuance of a court order.
The order was sent to Interpol, which is still analyzing it, but it already has international effect. In the document, issued on November 3, the Angolan authorities ask “find and arrest with a view to extradition” The Angolan citizen Isabel dos Santos, a process that will only take place after her arrest and in accordance with the laws of each country.
According to the document, Isabel dos Santos is wanted on suspicion of “crimes of embezzlement, qualified fraud, illegal participation in business, criminal association and influence peddling, money laundering”, with a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. Angola’s request “guarantees are given that extradition will be requested after the arrest of the person, in accordance with national laws and/or applicable bilateral and multilateral treaties.”
The document clarifies that it is a preventive arrest warrant???????? “This request should be treated as a formal request for provisional arrest, in accordance with national laws and/or applicable bilateral and multilateral treaties.” The international arrest warrant mentions that the businesswoman is usually in Portugal, the United Kingdom or the United Arab Emirates.
According to the document, between 2015 and 2017, the businesswoman created financial mechanisms “with the intention of to obtain illicit financial gain and to cover up suspicious criminal operations”through “information on public money of the Angolan State” that she obtained as administrator of the state oil company Sonangol.
According to the court order, Isabel dos Santos will have harmed the Angolan State in total amounts of more than 200 million euros, committing crimes of embezzlement, qualified fraud, illegal participation in businesses and money laundering.
Agencia Lusa contacted Interpol, which forwarded information on this case to the Angolan authorities. Furthermore, the English and Portuguese authorities neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the order.
In the statement from Isabel dos Santos, it is mentioned that There have been trials in progress in Portugal for almost three years and, at no time, “was an arguida constituted.” In the criminal process that is being processed in Portugal and in which it is indicated, the businesswoman “formally made herself available” to give a statement. “However, strangely, it was never reported in that regard.”
In the same document, the lawyers state that the authorities know her address, so the Angolan businesswoman “is not in an uncertain place, contrary to what is falsely disclosed.”
Source: Observadora
