Following on from Angola’s recent grey listing by the FATF for serious deficiencies in the country’s anti-money laundering regime, Angolan figures continue to be sanctioned by the international community.
Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos and once Africa’s wealthiest woman, has faced mounting legal battles on allegations of corruption throughout her vast business empire. The Luanda Leaks investigation revealed how she amassed significant wealth under her father’s rule through advantageous deals in oil, minerals, real estate, telecommunications, and banking. Since 2019, her assets have been frozen in multiple jurisdictions, including Angola and Portugal. Dos Santos has been subject to an Interpol Red Notice alert since November 2022. In 2024, dos Santos lost an appeal in London’s High Court to lift a $733 million global asset freeze.
Following this court loss, the UK has sanctioned her, along with her friend and business partner Paula Oliveira, and her Chief Financial Officer Sarju Raikundalia, both of whom helped Dos Santos funnel Angola’s national wealth for her own benefit. Currently in Dubai, dos Santos is facing criminal charges in Angola for embezzlement and money laundering, and there is local pressure for her seized assets to be repatriated.
This aggressive sanctions enforcement action comes amidst Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s pledge to crack down on corruption and illicit finance.
Also sanctioned was Dmitry Firtash, an infamous oligarch who has extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from Ukraine through corruption and his control of gas distribution and has hidden tens of millions of pounds of ill-gotten gains in UK property. Also sanctioned is his wife, Lada Firtash, and Denis Gorbunenko, a UK-based financial ‘fixer’ who enabled and facilitated Firtash’s corruption.
The third individual on the receiving end of David Lammy’s kleptocrat crackdown is Aivars Lembergs, one of Latvia’s richest people, who abused his political position to commit bribery and launder money. Lembergs hid proceeds of his corruption in investment trusts and other corporate structures, including in the name of his daughter, Liga Lemberga – also under sanction. In 2021, Lembergs was found guilty of 19 charges including extorting bribes, forgery of documents, money laundering, and improper use of office in a Latvian court.
The sanctioned individuals are under a travel ban as well as an asset freeze, meaning it is unlawful for any UK citizen, or any business in the UK, to deal with any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or controlled by the designated person. Sanctions must be complied with by any person in the UK, or any UK person around the world.
