Angola’s attorney general, Helder Pitta Grós, promised Monday that the judicial process against Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former president José Eduardo dos Santos, for corruption will continue despite the fact that the accused, whose whereabouts are unknown to the authorities of the African country, will not testify.
«We always counted that she would have to answer the notifications, we gave her the opportunity to respond, we did not want to rush anything (…) but after almost four years with the process stopped, stalled, then we have decided to go ahead», justified the attorney general from Luanda.
Regarding the possibility of Dos Santos to testify, Grós explained that if she is available, «she can say the specific place where she is and thus send her a letter rogatory so that she can be heard». «It already happened in the Netherlands, she did not accept it, I do not know where she will have that availability,» he has said for the Lusa agency.
On the other hand, Grós confirmed that an international arrest warrant was issued at the beginning of the month to try to find Dos Santos, who last week said in an interview on the German channel Deutsche Welle that this judicial case against her is a «commission» of the Angolan state against her.
«If she has evidence and wants to defend herself, it is in the process where she must do it, she cannot do it in social networks or in the media,» stressed Grós, who insisted that the country’s new Code of Criminal Procedure allows the process to go ahead without the need for her statement.
The reports known as ‘Luanda Leaks’ claim that Dos Santos, who became the richest woman in Africa according to ‘Forbes’ magazine, as president of the state-owned Sonagol, obtained lucrative contracts from the oil, diamond and telecommunications industries during her father’s presidency.
Prosecutors accuse Dos Santos of having caused losses to the Angolan State of more than 5 billion dollars during the 38 years of her father’s government. As a result of these investigations, his assets in Angola and Portugal have been frozen.
