Helping Africa! The Angola Connection

The Isle of Man government is proud of its overseas aid record and keeps ‘plugging’ the digging of bore holes in Kenya or passing on a redundant fishery protection vessel to Sierra Leone etc. But when we are not involved in aid to Africa we can also be aiding rich Africans with their property purchases it seems.

According to this report (sourced from Manx Radio) an Angolan woman reputed to be worth £2 billion has just used IOM offshore interests to purchase a home.

Here’s the section from the finance uncovered.org story:

“It is understood that this is just one of a number of “super prime” mansions she owns in London.

“UK Land Registry title deeds record the owner as Wilkson Properties Limited, a company incorporated in the Isle of Man. The British Crown dependency has resisted attempts by British MPs to open up to the public a register of who really owns and controls its companies. But last month they backed down and promised to do so by 2023.

“Wilkson is managed by The Fortress Group, an Isle of Man-headquartered law firm and “Trust or Company Service Provider” (TCSP). The Fortress Group declined to comment.

“When top ministers met in January to discuss current and emerging economic crime threats, they singled out lawyers, accountants and TCSPs, who “continued to play an important role in facilitating laundering,” according to the minutes.”

Here is the link to the full item:

https://www.financeuncovered.org/investigations/isabel-dos-santos-angola...

I was intrigued by the last bit about lawyers and accountants because of course all those operating in the Isle of Man are squeaky clean and Howard Quayle Chief Minister is always talking about ‘whitelists’ and the like (although strangely he doesn't talk about corporate jets very much these days) so I doubt the Isle of Man will have much to fear from an NCA investigation.

Anyway expect Treasury Minister Alf Cannan MHK in the portal anytime soon doing a lot of ‘arhing’ and ‘erming’ and assuring that all is ok.

There is a serious point here of course and that is Africa is a seriously rich continent and we and other Wesern countries should be doing our bit to ensure the wealth of its countries goes to benefit their people thats the real way to ‘aid Africa’.

Here’s that related link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-strategic-boar...

Bernard Moffatt

Assistant General Secretary
Celtic League