Luanda - Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos on Monday saw rejected by the British court an appeal to challenge the global asset freeze worth 580 million pounds decreed last year.
In a decision of the Court of Appeal published Monday, a panel of three judges unanimously decided to refuse the request to proceed with an appeal, favoring the company Unitel, now controlled by the Angolan state, which had requested an order to freeze assets.
At issue are loans made by Unitel, a mobile telecommunications company founded in 1998, in the amount of 323 million euros and 43 million dollars, between 2012 and 2013, to Unitel International Holdings B.V. (UIH), a holding company personally owned by Isabel dos Santos.
Unitel, of which the businesswoman was a director until 2020, started legal action against UIH in 2020 to recover the money because payments for the repayment of loans had stopped a few months earlier, to which she associated the name of Isabel dos Santos.
In December 2023, Judge Robert Bright sided with Unitel and ordered a worldwide order to freeze the businesswoman's assets worth £580 million (€697 million) to cover default interest and damages, in addition to ordering the businesswoman to pay legal costs.
Isabel dos Santos has accounts and assets seized in several countries following legal proceedings in Angola and other jurisdictions.
At the time, the judge noted that Isabel dos Santos' assets were affected by freezing orders in other jurisdictions, requested by the Angolan state, PT Ventures SGPS S.A., a Portuguese company owned by Angolan state oil company Sonangol, and Unitel.
Unitel belongs entirely to the Angolan State after having nationalized in 2022 the 25% stakes in Vidatel and 25% of Geni that were held by businesswoman Isabel dos Santos and General Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento 'Dino'.
Among the assets identified by the Commercial Court in London in December 2023 were real estate in the United Kingdom, with a value of up to 33.5 million pounds (40 million euros), in Monaco, worth 55 million dollars (49 million euros), and in Dubai, worth 40 million dollars (36 million euros).
In the same case, the existence of several bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Angola, Portugal, the British Virgin Islands, South Africa and South Africa was mentioned, and the value of UIH's shares in the holding company ZOPT, a shareholder of the telecommunications company NOS, frozen in favour of Unitel after a lawsuit in Portugal, was highlighted.
Isabel dos Santos, who has lived outside Angola for several years, is accused of 12 crimes in a case involving her management at the state-owned oil company Sonangol between 2016 and 2017. ART/DOJ
