An official source from Isabel dos Santos told Lusa that her lawyers consulted the Interpol database and found no reference to an arrest warrant against the Angolan businesswoman, contrary to information released on Thursday.
According to a document to which the Lusa agency had access on Thursday, and from which it released a news item, Interpol issued an international arrest and extradition order in the name of Isabel dos Santos, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR). from Angola.
According to that document, Isabel dos Santos is wanted for “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.
In a statement sent to Lusa, and “given the news published about the international arrest warrant”, an official source of Isabel dos Santos says that he is unaware of Interpol’s instructions and is intrigued that the businesswoman is being sought. after “almost three years of existence of said processes”, in which “the defendant was never constituted”, the same thing happened with any of her companies.
“Also in these almost three years, (Isabel dos Santos) formally made herself available to give a statement every time she was summoned, which happened, for example, in a process that processed terms at the Bank of Portugal, where, in two occasions, she provided all the clarifications requested.
Isabel dos Santos is also surprised that the authorities say they do not know her whereabouts, since the document that justifies the Interpol order only indicates that “the businesswoman is usually in Portugal, the United Kingdom or the United Arab Emirates.”
“Strictly speaking, the authorities are aware of her address, which appears, by the way, in the powers that were attached to the processes,” argues the official source, adding that the businesswoman was notified at that same address “in the context of the criminal proceedings that are carried out in Portugal”.
According to the document to which Lusa had access on Thursday, between 2015 and 2017, the Angolan businesswoman created financial mechanisms “with the intention of obtaining illicit financial gains and concealing suspicious criminal operations” through “information on public funds of the Angolan State”. . her that she achieved as administrator of the state oil company Sonangol.
The official source of Isabel dos Santos recalls, however, that “no accusation was made”, so the businesswoman did not have the opportunity to “exercise the contradictory” on the facts with which she is accused, noting that “the processes continue being secrets of justice”. , which further complicates the exercise of defense rights”.
“The facts related to the period in which he worked at Sonangol were not confirmed in court, on the contrary,” defends the official source of Isabel dos Santos.
According to the international arrest warrant, Isabel dos Santos will have harmed the Angolan State in a total amount of more than 200 million euros, committing crimes of embezzlement, qualified fraud, illegal participation in businesses and money laundering.
Source: TSF
