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The Angolan billionaire’s company had “no intention” to carry out economic activity in Malta, the island nation’s authorities said.
Malta is reportedly demanding payment of more than $275,000 total in taxes and fines from a telecom consultancy firm owned by Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos after rejecting its call for a tax clawback.
According to MaltaToday, the tax probe was launched after Luanda Leaks, a 2020 investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, exposed dos Santos’ business empire and decades of insider deals that helped her become Africa’s richest woman.
The Maltese tax agency hit Kento Holding Ltd., one of 14 Malta-based companies controlled by the eldest daughter of Angola’s former president José Eduardo dos Santos, with a fresh tax bill after finding it was not entitled to a $119,000 tax refund.
It is “highly unlikely that the company has real intentions of conducting an economic activity despite being registered since 1 September 2018, as no turnover was reported,” the Commissioner for Revenue said, according to the Maltese news outlet.
The firm is now fighting the tax bill, the outlet reported.
A lawyer representing dos Santos did not respond to ICIJ’s request for comment.