Alert 91 – Angola: Authorities move against Dos Santos family and allies
Angolan authorities have moved against the former ruling Dos Santos family and its allies, issuing arrest warrants and shutting down the private terminal at Luanda’s Quattro de Fevereiro Airport on 25 September 2018.
Key among these actions was the arrest of Jose Filomeno dos Santos, the son of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, on 24 September 2018 on charges of corruption and money laundering. Dos Santos has been charged with abusing his tenure as head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund ‒ during which he committed fraud and money laundering ‒ and illegally smuggling US$500 million of state funds to the United Kingdom (UK). In addition to Dos Santos, controversial Angolan businessperson and key Dos Santos ally, Jean Claude Bastos was arrested for facilitating crime on behalf of the Dos Santos family.
Authorities have also indicated that they intend to issue further arrest warrants and this is likely the start of an escalation in the anti-corruption crackdown. Accordingly, officials ordered the suspension of the services of private planes and helicopters at Quattro de Fevereiro Airport and other private terminals in the country in order to prevent current and former officials and corrupt businesspeople from fleeing the country, potentially smuggling looted funds with them.
This anti-corruption crackdown is the latest most significant step in President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço’s reform of the Angolan state and his overt campaign to rid the country of Dos Santos’ control and influence. The arrests come almost exactly a year after Lourenço assumed office on 26 September 2017 with the President proving more successful in his efforts to cement control of the government than initially expected. When he assumed office many observers felt he would have limited ability to act and that the Dos Santos family would retain control of the levers of state. However, in the past year, he has successfully removed Jose Filomeno dos Santos from the sovereign wealth fund and fired Isabel dos Santos (Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter) from the state oil company Sonangol.
The arrest of Jose Filomeno dos Santos is the most tangible demonstration yet of progress in the ongoing investigation into corruption perpetrated under the former administration and builds on the 21 September 2018 arrest of former transport minister Augusto da Silva Tomas on charges of corruption and embezzlement. Tomas was reportedly preparing to flee the country with stolen state funds, a revelation that no doubt contributed to the decision to order the shutdown of private aviation services.
The investigation into corruption under the previous administration will continue and further arrests are likely. In fact, given the suspension of private aviation services, more arrests may well be imminent. Following this, operations will likely resume. It is also probable that airport security is on the alert for any current or former government officials and Dos Santos allies attempting to leave the country via conventional airlines. It should be noted that while Lourenço has been widely applauded for his reforms and aggressive anti-corruption campaign, he is also using the investigation to purge political opponents, with rampant corruption in the Dos Santos administration making the anti-corruption campaign a highly effective mechanism to this end. At the same time, Lourenço himself was a long-serving member of the ruling MPLA and a part of the Dos Santos government. Accordingly, he too has a questionable past.
As it stands, it appears that Jose Eduardo dos Santos himself remains too powerful for Lourenço to target and it is unlikely that the investigation will move against the former president directly. However, the campaign to disrupt and dismantle the Dos Santos family’s influence will continue, with concomitant resistance from those who dependent on the former systems of patronage and tensions within the MPLA and government will persist.
Meanwhile, aside from firing former army chief of staff Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, Lourenço has not moved too strongly against the military with Nunda’s corruption case dismissed on 19 September 2018 due to lack of evidence. While it is unlikely that Lourenço will attempt drastic reform within the military in the near future, it is critical that he eventually act against any Dos Santos loyalists in this sector to fully consolidate his control of the Angolan state and complete his reform agenda. Naturally this will come with increased risks of political and security instability.