By Noah Browning

       2 Min Read

       LONDON (Reuters) -A Dutch court has ruled a half-billion-dollar stake in the Portuguese oil company Galp linked to Angolan ex-first daughter Isabel Dos Santos must be handed over to Angola, lawyers for the southwest African country’s state oil company said on Tuesday.

       FILE PHOTO: Isabel Dos Santos, daughter of Angola’s former President and Africa's richest woman, sits for a portrait during a Reuters interview in London, Britain, January 9, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

       Dos Santos - a business tycoon who became Africa’s richest woman - ran oil giant Sonangol from 2016 until 2017, when her father’s four-decade rule ended.

       The acquisition of the stake was “tainted by illegality, enabling Ms. Isabel dos Santos ... to reap an extraordinary financial gain to the detriment of Sonangol and, consequently, of the State of Angola”, the Netherlands international arbitration tribunal was quoted as saying by Sonangol’s lawyers.

       Dos Santos’s representatives did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

       Angola has been seeking to drum up revenue as the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates its severe debts and foils attempts to upgrade ageing oil infrastructure. Dos Santos has been the focus of a government crusade to claw back assets.

       Dos Santos denied any connection to the holding company at the centre of the case - Exem - which she says was owned by her late husband. She denies any wrongdoing and says she is the subject of a political witch-hunt by Angola’s new leadership.

       Under former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Sonangol sold a 40% stake in an offshore holding company, Esperaza, to another holding company - Exem - owned by Isabel’s husband Sindika Dokolo, a Congolese businessman.

       Esperaza, in which Sonangol retained a 60% stake, in turn partnered with the business empire of Portugal’s Amorim family to form yet another holding company, Amorim Energia, which is the largest shareholder in Portuguese oil company Galp Energia with a stake of around 33%.

       The value of holding company Exem’s indirect stake in Galp fluctuates with oil prices and is currently worth almost $500 million.

       Galp and Amorim Energia have denied any dealings with Dos Santos.

       Editing by Alex Richardson

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