Police searched the headquarters of a state-owned bank as part of a criminal investigation into a $55 million loan to a brewery owned by Isabel dos Santos.
Federal police seized files from KfW-Ipex-Bank, a subsidiary of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), following allegations that bank employees misappropriated public funds when granting a $55 million loan to the brewery of Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos, according to Suddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR.
Authorities are also investigating whether KfW properly vetted dos Santos' ties to the beer company, Sodiba, before granting the loan, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR reported.
The Luanda Leaks investigation revealed that dos Santos used the loan to buy a brewery and bottle filling systems from German manufacturer Krones AG, according to reporting by media partners.
In December 2019, before the publication of Luanda Leaks but after dos Santos and representatives of the Government of Angola received detailed questions from ICIJ, a Luanda court froze dos Santos' assets and those of her husband, including the couple's stake in Sodiba.
