Malta may keep some of the loot as the Angolan Asset Recovery Agency has entered into “asset sharing deals” with partner countries
The Angolan prosecutor’s office has submitted a request for cooperation with Malta as the African country intensifies its search for billions in funds embezzled by the daughter of its former president, Isabel dos Santos.
Luanda Leaks reveals how dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, and her late husband – Congolese businessman Sindica Dokolo – built an intricate web of front companies to funnel illicit funds from embezzlement, money laundering and influence peddling.
The investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showed how insider deals, political connections and a host of Western enablers helped Dos Santos amass a fortune after securing contracts in oil, diamonds, beer production and telecommunications, among others.
Angola is now seeking to recover that money and the hunt is increasingly taking place in Malta, where dos Santos and her husband have set up a total of 14 front companies in which millions of dollars have been hidden or laundered over the years.
Although it is not known how much stolen public funds have been stashed away in Malta or in Dos Santos’ Maltese companies, it is possible that Malta could get its hands on some of this money, with the Angolan National Asset Recovery Service (SENRA) floating the idea of ”sharing agreements”. assets” with cooperating countries.
It is believed that such agreements will create an additional incentive for cooperation in the enforcement of forfeiture orders by other countries. In addition to Malta, the Angolan General Assembly also requested the cooperation of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Bermuda, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Monaco and the Isle of Man.
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