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Africa’s richest woman loses battle to hold on to assets worth over $770 million

ISABEL do Santos, one of Africa’s richest women, looks set to lose assets worth $770 million.

Do Santos, one of the continent’s first female billionaires, failed in her appeal to overturn a freezing order on $778 million of her assets, as ruled by London’s High Court.

Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, is being sued by Angolan telecoms operator Unitel. The worldwide freezing order on her assets was granted in December, and the Court of Appeal has now rejected her attempt to challenge this decision.

The lawsuit centres around loans Unitel made to Unitel International Holdings (UIH), a separate Dutch company owned and controlled by dos Santos, in 2012 and 2013. These loans, totalling around 300 million pounds in outstanding debt, were intended to fund UIH’s acquisition of shares in telecom companies.

Dos Santos, who has faced corruption allegations in Angola for years, has denied any wrongdoing. She has claimed to be the victim of a long-running political vendetta and a “campaign of oppression” by Angola. Her defence argued that Unitel itself was responsible for UIH’s inability to repay the loans, citing Angola’s alleged unlawful seizure of UIH assets.

This legal battle comes against the backdrop of dos Santos’ fall from grace since her father’s 38-year rule ended in 2017. She resigned as a director of Unitel in 2020, and the company, despite sharing a name, is not related to her UIH.

By The African Mirror

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