Isabel dos Santos had been the 8th richest woman in the world, Africa’s richest woman and former president of Angola Jose Eduardo dos Santos's oldest child. However, her fortune seems to have been built through years of money laundering, with more than 75,000 transaction letters that had been analyzed to expose the means behind her wealth. There is a huge underlying problem that had also impacted the Mozambican scandal, African corruption - how businesses overseas launder money without feeling remorse; a problem that Santos had been a perpetrator in. She had, according to documents been given access to many suspicious deals involving land, oil, etc. while her father had been president.
However, that isn’t the only issue as people had known about Santos’s involvement with fraud. Rafael Marques de Morais was a reporter that had been reporting about Santos and her whole family’s financial history for years, working against the Angolan authorities. But unfortunately, businesses and governments were easily persuaded into turning a blind eye in favor of Angola’s vast wealth in oil. There had been many institutions that had ignored the clear reports of her fraud, instead choosing to focus on her image instead. The Yale Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development had invited her to talk about the development of Africa, disregarding her faulty background. In doing so, they protected her image and presented her as a successful woman to the world, valuing her reputation over the well being of millions of Angolans. Why would so many businesses and organizations prefer her reputation rather than the truth?
1. Why would so many businesses and organizations prefer her reputation rather than the truth?
2. How can we prevent these problems such as African corruption from happening again?
3. What are some ways to bring more support to these situations?
However, that isn’t the only issue as people had known about Santos’s involvement with fraud. Rafael Marques de Morais was a reporter that had been reporting about Santos and her whole family’s financial history for years, working against the Angolan authorities. But unfortunately, businesses and governments were easily persuaded into turning a blind eye in favor of Angola’s vast wealth in oil. There had been many institutions that had ignored the clear reports of her fraud, instead choosing to focus on her image instead. The Yale Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development had invited her to talk about the development of Africa, disregarding her faulty background. In doing so, they protected her image and presented her as a successful woman to the world, valuing her reputation over the well being of millions of Angolans. Why would so many businesses and organizations prefer her reputation rather than the truth?
1. Why would so many businesses and organizations prefer her reputation rather than the truth?
2. How can we prevent these problems such as African corruption from happening again?
3. What are some ways to bring more support to these situations?
Isabel dos Santos has a high-status reputation that many are afraid to question. Rafael Marques de Morais reported her suspicious financial information for years with little acknowledgment. Morais' articles of Santos' suspicious activities highlight how people decided to turn a blind eye when confronted with controversy.
ReplyDeleteBusinesses would gladly work with Santos becauses the economy in Africa is developing and a starting foothold in a developing economy is a good prospect. African countries need to develop their law enforcement agencies to not only catch street crime but white collar crime as well.
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ReplyDeleteCompanies work with Santos, despite her past, because they would rather benefit from the hope of her financial support than going against her and not gaining attention.
ReplyDeleteI believe that businesses are willing to consider her reputation over her actions because the international community lacks women in strong leadership roles. Her being the richest woman in Africa and a seemingly strong business woman makes dos Santos an easy choice to associate with one's company. In addition, many wealthy business leaders around the world are too disconnected from the lives of the impoverished to consider their well being in business decisions. It will be a challenge for the people of African nations to prevent similar behavior from happening in the future because of the massive wealth gap throughout the continent. Because of this, the poor population has little power compared to individuals in leadership roles or who possess vast wealth. Despite this, the rapid changes in technology throughout wealthier nations in Africa will continue to aid the empowerment of the poorer class. As nations such as Rwanda continue their rapid development into the 21st century with the support of technology, the nation's people will continue to gain power despite the tightening grip of their nation's leader. Such changes can be facilitated by the international community through investment into more sustainable sources of national income and a push for greater education.
ReplyDeleteAs economies become more and more globalized, and social media makes the image of companies more and more important, businesses would probably want to ignore the truth in favor of her reputation, as it both allows them to exploit a currently growing but not-well protected economy as well as avoid the negative mark that would come from the truth of their business conspirator becoming well-known. While it is difficult to prevent schemes like this from occurring, increased awareness of such issues by encouraging more news outlets to cover stories like this will make global money laundering schemes easier to crack down on.
ReplyDelete-Leo Thompson
Because the media doesn't want to ruin a chance with Africa's "richest" woman, they are more likely to protect her reputation over checking her fraudulent activities. While the dos Santos family can probably afford to not work a single day of their life ever, the citizens of Angola barely have enough money and food to put onto the table. This issue of corruption in the government lies deep down in its foundation. Some solutions could be independent offices/commissions to check back power, incorporate more of the people's voices, etc.
ReplyDeleteamanda hao
DeleteWhile I agree with your opinion, I also believe that if they had option to expose of her intentions earlier, they might have done it for all of the media attention and that there was something else keeping most people from saying anything. I also agree with your ideas of independent offices/commissions but also think that those solutions could cause political instability in the future if not managed well.
DeleteI think these businesses and organizations turn a blind eye to her fraudulence and favor her reputation because if they did something it could go badly for them as Isabel dos Santos hold a lot of power. They would want to keep their own reputation instead of questioning others. Not to mention Angola's economy is reliant on their oil production and if companies come forward with accusations against Santos I assume they wouldn't continue their business with Angola. You can't really prevent things like this from happening. People do bad things but increasing media coverage and proper punishment can deter people from this sort of fraudulence. Even the title of this article https://www.today.ng/news/africa/leaked-documents-destroy-reputation-isabel-dos-santos-276835 reveal how Santos reputation has been destroyed and how terrible it would be. No one would want their reputation to be destroyed so media coverage is helping decrease the amount of fraud.
ReplyDeleteI think that businesses and organizations prefer her reputation, rather than the truth, because she serves as an icon of feminine power, having a strong leadership role unlike most other women, which is appealing for any company to have good associations with. Additionally, throughout history, females have been viewed as more innocent, moral, and disadvantaged than men, who supposedly follow more primal, aggressive urges; this gender bias has taken a toll in courts, where women are much more likely to receive less jail time for the same crimes than men are and are much more likely to gain child custody. Thus, Isabel dos Santos, being a woman, is more likely to be thought of as an honest, hard-working individual that rightfully took her place as one of the richest women in the world. People are afraid to question her reputation and be pinned as doing so out of sexism. Overall, corruption is a major issue worldwide, and it needs to be addressed and punished more frequently, instead of allowing it to lurk under the waters.
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