Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos now has just a few weeks to provide details to a British court about her properties in various parts of the world that have long been shrouded in secrecy.
This is pursuant to a decision announced on Wednesday, 20th, by British judge Robert Bright who agreed to a request from the Angolan company Unitel to freeze the businesswoman’s assets, in a dispute over alleged debts of hundreds of millions of dollars to the company.
The judge gave Isabel dos Santos a deadline of next month to provide Unitel with a list of her assets, including properties in London, Monaco and Dubai.
It has long been known that Isabel dos Santos owns luxury properties in these countries, but the list may be longer than what is known or speculated because some properties were acquired by companies controlled by the businesswomen and not by herself.
One of these properties is an apartment on the sixth floor of the “La Petite Afrique” building in the principality of Monaco, one of the most expensive property areas in the world.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said Isabel dos Santos and her late husband, Sindika Dokolo, used a shell company, Athol Limited, to buy the apartment, which in 2020 was valued at US$55 million.
A property company’s website says the building is located in the “heart of Monte Carlo, next to the prestigious gardens of Le Grand Casino and one block from the Hotel de Paris and the Salle Garnier”, well-known landmarks of this city inhabited by world-class millionaires. all over the world.
All apartments have views of the Mediterranean Sea, and the building has two swimming pools and a gym.
Another property that Isabel dos Santos will have to detail is a villa in one of the most luxurious neighborhoods in London, Kensington, which around four years ago was the scene of a dispute with residents of the area who opposed the businesswoman’s plans to excavate the property to build several underground rooms, including a “jacuzzi”, a wine cellar, a massage room and a safe.
The British newspaper Daily Mail, which gave these details, stated at the time that the mansion was valued at 16.5 million dollars.
But during court hearings on the now decided Unitel case, lawyers said that Isabel dos Santos owns properties in London valued at $42 million.
In these hearings it was also stated that Isabel dos Santos’ properties in Monaco and Dubai are valued at 95 million dollars.
In Dubai, where she lives most of the time, Isabel dos Santos is said to own a residence on one of the territory’s artificial islands, also valued at tens of millions of dollars.
Her husband, Sindika Dokolo, died in Dubai in an accident while diving off the coast.