German state-owned bank fined for Angolan loan exposed in Luanda Leaks
German authorities have imposed a $178,000 fine on state-owned KfW-Ipex-Bank for facilitating loans to an Angolan brewery linked to Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of the country’s former president.
Frankfurt prosecutors said that the subsidiary of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) violated German anti-money laundering laws, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
The deal was first reported by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its German media partners in 2020 as part of the Luanda Leaks investigation into the insider deals that made dos Santos Africa’s richest woman. The investigation revealed how dos Santos, a billionaire, moved hundreds of millions of dollars in public money out of one of the world’s poorest countries.
ICIJ’s partners Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR found that, in 2015, KfW-Ipex loaned about $55 million to Angola’s state-owned bank Banco de Poupança e Crédito which then loaned the money to Sodiba, dos Santos’ beer company.
The media partners also revealed that dos Santos used the loan to buy the brewery and bottle filling systems from German manufacturer Krones AG. In response to the Luanda Leaks findings, Krones AG then told reporters that it did not previously know dos Santos owned Sodiba. Public records existed for years before the loan that tied the daughter of Angola’s autocratic president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, to the company.
Last year, Frankfurt authorities launched an investigation into Germany’s state-owned export bank, one of the world’s largest government financing agencies.
The deal was first reported by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its German media partners in 2020 as part of the Luanda Leaks investigation into the insider deals that made dos Santos Africa’s richest woman. The investigation revealed how dos Santos, a billionaire, moved hundreds of millions of dollars in public money out of one of the world’s poorest countries.
ICIJ’s partners Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR found that, in 2015, KfW-Ipex loaned about $55 million to Angola’s state-owned bank Banco de Poupança e Crédito which then loaned the money to Sodiba, dos Santos’ beer company.
The media partners also revealed that dos Santos used the loan to buy the brewery and bottle filling systems from German manufacturer Krones AG. In response to the Luanda Leaks findings, Krones AG then told reporters that it did not previously know dos Santos owned Sodiba. Public records existed for years before the loan that tied the daughter of Angola’s autocratic president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, to the company.
Last year, Frankfurt authorities launched an investigation into Germany’s state-owned export bank, one of the world’s largest government financing agencies.