Portugal should be worried about the "huge suspicious investments" by Angolan citizens in luxury properties, companies and financial institutions in Portugal, according to a report by the US State Department that studiously will be ignored by the government and the country's banks.
According to the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2017, the Portuguese Government should "continue to monitor Angolan investments in Portugal in areas such as luxury real estate, financial institutions and companies."
There are suspicions, according to the report, that "Portugal functions as a revolving door for the laundering of illicit money by the Angolan ruling class."
"The monitoring efforts by the authorities of the political and economic influences of various Chinese groups with interests in Portugal also have increased."
The report, which outlines the profile of almost 90 countries in terms of money laundering, defines Portugal as one of the prime transit countries for drug trafficking.
The country's extensive coastline, vast territorial waters and privileged relations with countries in South America and Lusophone Africa make Portugal a gateway for South American cocaine and one of the trans-shipment points for drugs entering Europe from West Africa.
The Portuguese authorities did detect funds from illicit activities that found their way into the financial system, especially from smuggling tobacco.
The thought of interrupting the flow of illicit money from Angola, a flow that has been going on for decades with many top Portuguese companies now having sizeable chunks of shares owned by Angolans, will be too much for the government to tackle.
Not all of the illicit money flowing in Portugal is from the drugs trade.
The president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, (pictured) blatantly has siphoned off billions from the country’s oil revenues and the assertion that his daughter Isabel became the richest woman in Africa on her own merits is not credible.
USD32 billion is known to be missing from Angola's national accounts in the decade to 2012 with the suspicion that a sizeable chunk of it has ended up being invested in Portugal through his daughter’s seemingly glittering business career.
In Portugal, Isabel dos Santos owns stakes in Portugal’s top 20 companies valued at more than €2.3 billion.
Portugal is among the "biggest laundries of money stolen from Angola,” according to Angolan lawyer David Mendes speaking in Lisbon in May, 2015.
It would be unfair to single out Isabel dos Santos when so many Angolan's linked to the dos Santos family also are involved in buying assets in Portugal with stolen or extorted money.
