A London High Court has rejected an appeal by former Unitel director Isabel dos Santos to unfreeze assets worth around US$778 million.
In January 2024, a London High Court granted Angola’s Unitel a worldwide freezing order for dos Santos’ assets. The operator is currently suing dos Santos over allegations that she misappropriated funds while working as a director at the company.
According to reports from Reuters, Unitel has accused Isabel dos Santos of loaning funds totalling US$43 million to Unitel International Holdings (UIH) – a Dutch firm with no connection to Unitel, entirely owned and controlled by dos Santos – between 2012 and 2013, while she was working as a director at Unitel.
De Santos resigned and left Unitel in 2020, but the loans remain unpaid, with the arrears now sitting at nearly US$400 million. She has claimed that Unitel illegally aided the state of Angola in seizing UIH’s assets, and that therefore the operator itself must bear responsibility of UIH being unable to pay back its loans.
Dos Santos, the daughter of former Angolan ruler Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has denied all allegations against her - including years-long claims of corruption – claiming that she is the victim of a ‘campaign of oppression’ by Angola.
