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The businessman and art collector, Sindika Dokolo, was 48 years old and was born in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2002 he married Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos. The businessman was involved in some controversial episodes that, on occasions, also coincided with the accusations against Isabel dos Santos in the context of the Luanda Escapes.
Sindika, owner of one of the most important collections of contemporary African art (which has three thousand works), was the son of a Congolese father and a Danish mother, having divided his childhood between Belgium and France. He attended the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris, where he finished high school, and received a degree in Economics, Commerce and Foreign Languages at the Pierre and Marie Curie University. In 1995, Sindika decided to return to the former Zaire to take over the family business that numbered 17 companies in activities as diverse as banking, cattle ranching, fishing, coffee export, real estate, freight transport, insurance and mining, among others.
Sentenced to 1 year in prison
On July 17, 2017, Sindika Dokolo, a Congolese businessman and art collector, and also the son-in-law of José Eduardo dos Santos, was sentenced to one year in prison, as part of a real estate case. Isabel dos Santos’ husband accused the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila, of the conviction, denouncing the case on Twitter, precisely after inaugurating in Luanda, this Wednesday, a new cement factory of the group he directs, the Cimangola. “When I opened a $ 400 million factory [cimenteira em Luanda], JKabila [Joseph Kabila] He sentences me to one year in jail for a piece of land. Mr. Kabila! It will be lost in your Justice ”, wrote Dokolo in this social network.
I just opened a 400 million dollar factory, JKabila has sentenced me to 1 year in prison for a plot. Mr. Kabila! Your justice will ruin you
– Sindika Dokolo (@sindika_dokolo) July 12, 2017
According to local media, Sindika Dokolo was convicted in absentia of property fraud by a Kinshasa court. In another tweet, the Congolese businessman again attacked the sentence. “I invested 400 million dollars in a factory. Wanting to condemn me for stealing a million [de dólares] It is not credible ”, he published.
Freeze accounts
At the beginning of January 2020, the freezing of Sindika Dokolo’s bank accounts in several companies also detained by the Luanda Provincial Court, led the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to warn of the serious consequences of these measures. “Internally pressured, he came to exercise what in terms of international law is called diplomatic protection of his citizen whose interests were affected by a decision of a foreign state,” the Angolan diplomatic source told Expresso at the time.
Investigation of money laundering
The weekly “Expresso” reported earlier this year that the businesswoman Isabel dos Santos was being investigated by the Monaco authorities for the crime of money laundering, as was her father, former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, and his husband, Congolese businessman Sindika Dokolo. According to “Expresso”, “the investigations could be extended to other relatives, friends and close collaborators who, directly or indirectly, were involved in business with them,” an official from the investigation services mentioned in the news. Angolan criminal law accompanying the case in collaboration with Interpol. The investigation of the Monaco authorities was motivated by the detection of large amounts deposited in financial institutions in the principality.
Sindika accuses Rui Pinto and João Lourenço of conspiracy
On January 19 of this year, and in the midst of the Luanda Leaks scandal, Sindika Dokolo came to the defense of Isabel dos Santos and accused the Portuguese hacker of being the armed wing of the ‘plot’, speaking with the RFI. In addition to Rui Pinto, Dokolo defended that João Lourenço, president of Angola, and Manuel Vicente, former vice president of Angola, were also part of this plot by the Luanda Papers. Luanda Leaks is an investigation by an international consortium of investigative journalists (ICIJ), which suggests that Isabel dos Santos benefited from immense opportunities derived from Eduardo dos Santos, former president of Angola and father of Isabel dos Santos, while leading the country. and shows how Isabel dos Santos built a fortune at the expense of the Angolan State.
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