Dos Santos assets still safe in Namibia

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) says it has not received any instructions regarding the freezing of accounts held by Angola's beleaguered former first daughter Isabel dos Santos or any entities associated with her.“If such a request is made, it would be facilitated and processed through the appropriate institutions, appropriate government processes and in compliance to the relevant laws,” BoN spokesperson Kazembire Zemburuka said.The BoN said it was not aware that Dos Santos held any shares in Bank Atlántico, which is one of the eight commercial banks in Namibia.Dos Santos is, however, the majority shareholder (42.5%) of Bank BIC Namibia Limited. “The [BoN] is on record that it is aware of developments in Angola pertaining to Ms Dos Santos. The bank is following these developments in the multiple jurisdictions in as far as they may impact the operations of Bank BIC Namibia Limited,” Zemburuka said.He said the BoN at present was not aware of any developments that threaten the stability of Bank BIC Limited despite the negative publicity that could adversely impact the growth of the bank. “Bank BIC is presently well capitalised and has a good liquidity position,” Zemburuka said.Dos Santos, daughter of long-term former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, stands accused of grand theft, corruption and money laundering.An Angolan court has decided to freeze her personal assets such as bank accounts and stakes in at least nine companies inside Angola.Earlier this month authorities in Portugal seized dozens of bank accounts belonging to Isabel and her businessman husband, Sindika Dokola, as part of a request for international judicial cooperation by the Angolan authorities. GalpAccording to what is now called the Luanda Leaks, one of the many companies Isabel is linked to is Galp Energia, a corporation consisting of more than 100 companies involved in gas and oil. Galp Energia SA is part of a joint venture with the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) and a company called Custos Investments on two petroleum exploration licences (PEL 82 and PEL 83) to explore for oil along Namibia's coast. Pedro Marques Pereira, a member of the Galp external communications team, said Dos Santos is not a direct shareholder of Galp, however. Explaining her relationship with Galp, Pereira said Amorim Energia BV, which owns a direct stake of 33.34% of Galp, is controlled by a Portuguese family “with old industrial traditions”.Pereira said the remaining 45% is controlled by Esperaza Holding BV, which in turn is controlled by Angola's state-owned oil company, Sonangol.According to a 2010 Global Witness report, Esperaza is a subsidiary of Sonangol. It stated that Dokola was a board member of Amorim Energia since 2006 “at the designation of Esperaza”. Just before her father's 38-year term as president came to an end, he had appointed Isabel as head of Sonangol. She was fired from that position by incoming president João Lourenço in 2017.Exploration in NamibiaWerner Petrick, technical director and environmental assessment manager of SLR Environmental Consulting Namibia, said the environmental impact assessment processes for the PEL 82 and PEL 83 exploration projects had been completed and the final EIA reports had been submitted to the relevant authorities here. Galp said it and its partners in the Namibian oil exploration venture had collectively invested around N$4 billion. This includes previously drilling three exploration wells and more recently undertaking two seismic surveys.Galp said further investment would depend on the results of the current technical work and whether any discoveries were eventually made. Exploration wells can cost in excess of N$1 billion each, it emphasised.“In the event of a successful oil discovery, investment to develop the discovery could be over one hundred times this amount, and any development has the potential to transform the Namibian economy by creating many local jobs and bringing significant tax revenue to the government,” Galp stated.

Dos Santos assets still safe in Namibia

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-08-06

Please login to leave a comment

Dos Santos assets still safe in Namibia

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-08-06

Please login to leave a comment

Login