Isabel Dos Santos's Footprint On The Angolan Economy

LUANDA, ANGOLA - JANUARY 27: A young boy crosses a stream of sewage inside the Povoado slum on January 27, 2020 in Luanda, Angola. In June 2013, 3000 families were evicted from a shanty town called Areia Branca, forcibly removed without warning by police and local officials. 500 families have relocated to a former waste dump known as Povoado, where two sewage channels flow through their encampment and diseases such as meningitis, tuberculosis and malaria are common. Residents have raised their beds high off the ground as during storms and particularly high tides their houses flood with sewage from the nearby lagoon. The Luanda Leaks investigation suggests that Isabel dos Santos’s company, Urbinveste, would benefit from the redevelopment of Areia Branca, claims she denies. Dos Santos said her plans, which were backed by her father, did not require evictions. She also insists her business relationship with her father’s government was “arm’s length”, and that she was “not financed by any state money or funds”. Businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is the daughter of the former President of Angola - Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Forbes Magazine put her fortune at $2.1billion making her the richest woman in Africa. How she made her fortune has come under scrutiny as international media using information from the Luanda Leaks have revealed how, during his presidency, her father sanctioned her acquisition of stakes in Angolan industries including banking, diamonds, oil and telecoms. In December 2019 the Angolan Courts froze Dos Santos's stakes in Angolan companies as it bought a case against her regarding funds owed to the state oil firm. (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)