Last week, the Angolan Supreme Court ordered the preventive seizure of assets belonging to businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, ruling in favor of the Angolan Public Prosecutor's Office's accusation.

At stake is more than a billion dollars, which includes stakes in various companies owned by José Eduardo dos Santos' daughter, such as Embalvidro, UPSTAR Comunicação, MSTAR, Unitel T+ and Unitel Internacional Holding.

The seizure is aimed "essentially at safeguarding the confiscation of the benefits of the crime which, in this case, are very large for the Angolan state". Even so, according to the authority, "this is not an advance conviction" and it can be terminated "in the event of acquittal", says the order quoted by the newspaper Observer (paid access).

The Angolan Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Isabel dos Santos of having caused damage amounting to 1,136,996,825 billion dollars, accusing her of embezzlement and influence peddling, crimes from which the businesswoman "allegedly obtained advantages".

The document also stresses that the defendant should only be notified after the seizure.

In an interview with CNN Portugal, Isabel dos Santos said that "bizarrely" there are no criminal proceedings against her in Angola. "There is a forged decision by the judge of the Supreme Court of Angola, which is sent to Portugal and Portugal takes it and acts on that forged decision," she said, claiming that the opening of proceedings in Portugal was based on non-existent documents forged by Angola.

Part of the consequence of these proceedings is the seizure and freezing of accounts and assets that the businesswoman has in Portugal - companies such as Efacec, which has since been nationalized, and which Isabel dos Santos says have been left with no way of paying their bills, including workers' salaries, following a decision by Carlos Alexandre, although she did not mention the judge by name.