THE Portuguese Government seized shares owned by Angola’s Isabel dos Santos in the Efacec Power Solutions SGPS SA Company, in a bid to help the company find new owners.
Isabel Dos Santos has been battling a corruption probe both home and in Portugal. She is being accused of embezzling over $ 1 billion from Angolan state-owned firms.
Dos Santos owned a 72% stake in the company through a Maltese registered company called “Winterfell 2”. Angola’s Finance Minister, Pedro Vieira said on Thursday that the Angolan government has started plans to sell the stake and already has interest from interested bidders.
Efacec has annual sales of $449 million, according to the Minister.
Efacec announced back in January that Isabel dos Santos had planned to sell most of her majority stake in the company.
Isabel dos Santos had her assets frozen in December 2019 by Angolan courts, she claims the corruption probe against her was based on a fake passport signed by late Hollywood star Bruce Lee. Portugal also froze her assets in February.
Efacec said in January that Dos Santos, a daughter of a former Angolan president, planned to sell her majority stake in the company.
In December, an Angolan court froze some assets of Dos Santos, as well as those of her husband and one of her executives, after prosecutors alleged they engaged in deals with state-owned companies that led to the Angolan government incurring losses. In February, Portuguese prosecutors froze her bank accounts in the country. Dos Santos has previously denied any wrongdoing.
(Compiled by news agencies)
