Africa Oil & Gas: Former Sonangol Administration under investigation by Angola Attorney General

The Attorney General of the Republic of Angola announced today that an investigation has been initiated to investigate the public denunciation of the current administration of Sonangol over alleged irregular transfers during the management of Isabel dos Santos in the oil company.

In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency in Luanda, PGR said that the investigation is directed by the National Directorate for Prevention and Combating Corruption and “is under the secrecy of Justice.”

“The conclusions of the investigation will be timely brought to public knowledge, without prejudice to the secrecy of Justice,” said the note from the Angolan PGR.

He adds that the Attorney General was aware of the situation through the public denunciation made at a press conference on Wednesday by the chairman of the oil company’s board, Carlos Saturnino, regarding “irregular monetary transfers ordered by the previous Sonangol administration and other incorrect procedures ”

The investigation aims to “investigate the facts that occurred, as well as the possible criminal-legal framework of the same,” explains the note from the PGR.

The Angolan state oil company’s chairman of the Sonangol board of directors denounced Wednesday a transfer of $ 38 million (31.1 million euros) by the outgoing administration after it was exonerated.

Carlos Saturnino, who was speaking at a press conference during the 42-year history of the oil company, listed some findings about the Sonangol group, which he found following the exoneration of the former administration, led by Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former President of Angola , José Eduardo dos Santos and appointed by him.

“We took office on November 16, 2017 and that night we realized that the administrator who was in charge of the finances at Sonangol, although he was exonerated on the 15th, ordered a transfer of $ 38 million to Matter Business Solution, based in Dubai, “he charged.

According to Carlos Saturnino, the transfer was carried out through the BIC bank, “which has become one of the preferred banks in Sonangol”.

“I think this is not the case, it was not the only case.” On November 17, four more bills were paid, that is, how people who had been exonerated by the government were still transferring. in good faith of absolute certainty, “observed Carlos Saturnino, in an apparent allusion to the fact that Isabel dos Santos is also BIC’s reference shareholder.

Isabel dos Santos was president of the Sonangol board of directors between June 2016 and November 2017, until she was exonerated by the new President of the Republic, João Lourenço, who placed Carlos Saturnino at the helm of the oil company. source: VOA news