VideoChip wars: The US v China, Socially distant scares in Tokyo 'haunted house' VideoSocially distant scares in Tokyo 'haunted house', .css-orcmk8-HeadlineContainer{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}Covid-19: England faces four-week lockdown restrictions.css-1dedj2h-Rank{-webkit-align-self:center;-ms-flex-item-align:center;align-self:center;color:#B80000;margin-left:3.125rem;}1, Sean Connery: James Bond actor dies aged 902, Two dead and five wounded in Quebec stabbing, police say3, US election 2020: What has Trump said about your country?4, India couple bullied for intimate wedding photoshoot5, Covid-19: Austria and Portugal announce restrictions6, Covid-19: PM announces four-week England lockdown7, Lyon attack: Orthodox priest wounded in shooting8, Niger: American hostage rescued by US special forces9. VideoThe turtle 'anthem' protesters sing in Belarus, Berlin airport opens... 10 years late. “It is no secret that the environment in Angola is very challenging when it comes to ethical business practices.”. “There is a clear conflict of interest,” said Prem Sikka, a professor at the University of Sheffield, who has advised policymakers on reforming the accountancy sector. “There should be a major investigation into this.”. But by 2015 Sonangol was in crisis. The falling price of oil and longstanding inefficiency were draining the company’s revenues. Prosecutors allege the couple drained more than $1bn from public funds through transactions with state companies including Sonangol and the national diamond exporter Sodiam. But it is the suggestion that her success is down to her father’s influence that rankles the most. The files reveal extensive use of the biggest global accounting firms by her businesses, with London-headquartered PwC emerging as one of the favoured advisers. Sodiam has to pay 9% interest and the loan was guaranteed by a presidential decree from her father, so the bank cannot lose out. It was this contract, signed on 10 November by Oliveira and Rodrigues, that would be the basis on which millions of dollars were moved out of Sonangol’s bank account six days later, according to the company’s inquiry. “Any professional services firm needs to think very hard about the reputational risk of accepting both forms of business from the same customer,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute. They all deny any wrongdoing, saying the accusations are a politically motivated witch hunt. In April 2019, following a series of accounting scandals, Britain’s competition regulator proposed a shake-up. He is a member of the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, a group that bills itself as the leading business voice on anti-corruption and transparency matters. She was sacked from her role in November 2017, soon after her father retired. These included Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and PwC. VideoSalvaged Victorian signal box to become museum, Your pictures on the theme of 'urban living', The turtle 'anthem' protesters sing in Belarus. It comes as Angola’s attorney general has reportedly announced that Dos Santos has been named as a formal suspect in the criminal investigation. Dos Santos said her work on the first contract made her the logical choice for the commission. The transfers began on 16 November 2017, with $38m wired (then £32.3m) to a bank account in Dubai. They said it was “simply incorrect” that Rodrigues did not have authority to sign documents. Video, Street kids changing their lives with guitars, Salvaged Victorian signal box to become museum. At the start of the day, the bank account of Sonangol, Angola’s state oil company, had contained $57m. This month, Rodrigues told an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reporter she only recalled signing one document, because she was told to, before a Sonangol lawyer told her she had no authority to act for the company. Ms. dos Santos at a Boston Consulting Group summit. Her lawyers said her involvement in the project had been confidential for commercial reasons, and that although she knew Dos Santos the notion she was acting as her proxy was “simply fanciful”. US election 2020: What has Trump said about your country? It provided tax advice, consultancy and auditing services to entities in Malta, Luxembourg, Angola, Portugal and the Netherlands. Video, The turtle 'anthem' protesters sing in Belarus, Berlin airport opens... 10 years late. Wise’s owner was the president’s daughter, Isabel dos Santos.

A second presidential decree announced her appointment as chair of Sonangol, mandated with overseeing its turnaround. Video, Salvaged Victorian signal box to become museum, The turtle 'anthem' protesters sing in Belarus. Sodiam also awarded him a €5m success fee for brokering the deal, so he didn't have to use any of his own money. Oliveira said she was, and had always been, the sole owner of Matter. Dos Santos’s lawyers said the decision to replace the head of the London subsidiary had been made on 30 August 2017, but “the public announcement of the appointment was deferred”. Among the companies audited by PwC are several named in or connected to an asset freeze imposed by Angola’s attorney general in December, on Dos Santos, her husband, an associate and their businesses. The revelation will add fuel to demands for regulators to break up the big four audit firms, PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte. “In order to settle the outstanding invoices, a number of payments began to occur between June and November 2017, with the final payment occurring by 15 November 2017,” they said, adding that the payments were for services delivered under contract. Video, Socially distant scares in Tokyo 'haunted house' Video, Socially distant scares in Tokyo 'haunted house', Covid-19: England faces four-week lockdown restrictions, Sean Connery: James Bond actor dies aged 90, Two dead and five wounded in Quebec stabbing, police say. Dos Santos says the payments were for consultancy work provided by blue chip firms – including PwC. Mr Dokolo's lawyers say he later invested $115m in De Grisogono and his company paid above the market rate for the raw diamonds. The move has sparked anger among Tory MPs, with one saying the PM was "pressurised" by scientists. The complex financial schemes that helped Dos Santos amass an estimated $2.2bn (£1.7bn) fortune at the expense of the Angolan state have been revealed this week in the Luanda Leaks investigation, based on a huge cache of documents leaked from her business empire. He controversially appointed his eldest daughter to head the state-owned oil firm Sonangol a year before he stood down. A report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stopped short of recommending the full breakup of the big four, but said their auditing arms should operate at arm’s length from tax advice and other services. If the Swiss authorities accept any bid for bankruptcy by De Grisogono the firm says 65 employees will lose their jobs. VideoBerlin airport opens... 10 years late, 'Lockdown means our witches' coven can't meet', Chip wars: The US v China. The two can be seen together in Instagram posts, smiling with shared friends, and co-own a call centre business and a restaurant in Angola’s capital, Luanda. BCG declined to comment on its restructure advice, though it is understood it considered its client to be the Angolan government rather than Dos Santos. As Africa’s second-largest oil producer Angola has vast petroleum wealth, which is licensed exclusively by Sonangol. The Luanda Leaks project is based on a trove of 715,000 emails, charts, contracts, audits and accounts detailing the business operations of Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former president of Angola. It has ventures in a swath of other sectors, such as helicopters, telecoms and real estate, to support its core business. Within 48 hours, Rodrigues had signed a contract for consultancy services on behalf of the UK subsidiary, according to a Sonangol internal report. Three major global consulting firms - Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey Consultants & PricewaterhouseCoopers - have been implicated in helping Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former president of Angola, become a billionaire allegedly by plundering state coffers.

Critics say audits can be compromised if a firm responsible for checking the books of a business is also receiving often much larger fees for advising that business on matters such as tax schemes, cost-cutting and restructuring. PwC, the global accounting firm battling to distance itself from a financial scandal engulfing Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, was auditing the books of Angola’s state oil company during a period that is now under criminal investigation. Six months later, Isabel dos Santos would be granted even greater influence over the reforms.