Isabel Dos Santos, daughter in exile of the recently deceased former president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, has announced that she does not rule out the possibility of running for the country’s presidency.
In an interview granted to the German channel Deutsche Welle, Dos Santos emphasized that she wants to «serve» her country and that if she ever had «the possibility» to put Angola «in a better place» and give it «the focus it needs», she would be willing to take that step.
«If someday I have the opportunity to return to my country, a better country, and help my country to have the vision it needs, to build, yes, I will take that step and I believe that many people will be with me because we are another Angola, we have other ambitions and we need another political future,» Dos Santos said.
Dos Santos has become one of the main targets of the judicial authorities of the country her father once presided over. However, she considers that it is nothing more than a «commission» from the State for «political reasons».
«I am not the target of several judicial processes in several countries as it is being said. That statement is not correct», said Dos Santos, who accused the government of Joao Lourenco of «manipulating» and «placing in the hands» of the press «information that was not true».
Dos Santos referred to the investigation known as ‘Luanda Leaks’ as a «gross manipulation» of the State against her. According to this information, the daughter of the former Angolan president, as head of the state-owned Sonagol, obtained lucrative contracts from the oil, diamond and telecommunications industries during the presidency of her father Dos Santos.
The Prosecutor’s Office accuses Dos Santos, who became the richest woman in Africa according to ‘Forbes’, of causing losses to the State amounting to more than 5 billion dollars during the 38 years of her father’s government. As a consequence of these investigations, her assets in Angola and Portugal have been frozen.
Dos Santos’ statements come a few days after Interpol allegedly issued an arrest warrant for her, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa, for crimes of embezzlement of public funds, although sources close to the businesswoman denied that they were aware of this warrant.
