Dubai: Sindika Dokolo, the husband of Isabel dos Santos, billionaire daughter of Angola’s former president, has died in a diving incident in Dubai.
According to Dokolo’s family and officials in Dubai Police, the incident happened on October 29. Dokolo’s family announced his death in a statement posted to his Twitter account on October 30. “The Dokolo family, his wife, children, mother, brother and sisters have the deepest sorrow and immense sadness to announce the passing of Sindika Dokolo, which occurred on October 29, 2020 in Dubai. We thank all who have expressed their sympathy and kindness and who share our grief,” the family statement said on twitter.
Meanwhile, Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that there is no criminal suspicious behind the death of Dokolo. “Dubai Police’s command room received an emergency call on October 29, about a drowning incident. He was practicing diving near Um Al Hatab Island, seven miles off Deira Island,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.
“He was practicing free diving which is a form of underwater dive that relies on breath-holding rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. There is no foul play behind the death after investigation and questioning the deceased’s friends.” Maritime Rescue teams went to the location and recovered the body
Moreover, Dos Santos on Thursday posted on her Instagram page, a picture of herself, Dokolo and a young boy, with a caption “My love.”
Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that there is no suspicious criminal act behind the death of Dokolo.
“Dubai Police’s Command room received an emergency call on October 29, about drowning incident. He was practicing diving near Um Al Hatab Island, seven miles off Deira Island,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said. “He was practicing free diving, which is a form of underwater dive that relies on breath-holding rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. There is no foul play.”
Maritime Rescue teams went to the location and recovered the body.
Profile
Dokolo, a business tycoon and leading art collector, became entangled along with his wife in a major anticorruption investigation launched after her father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, left office in 2017. Dokolo had interests in oil and diamond businesses in Angola and abroad but was also well known for his large collection of thousands of pieces of contemporary African art.
Last year, his foundation bought advertising on the Nasdaq electronic billboard in New York’s Times Square to highlight his flagship project of returning African artworks seized during colonial rule.
At the time of his death, Dokolo and dos Santos, 47, were under investigation by Angolan authorities, which had frozen their bank accounts and business assets on New Year’s Eve. His wife, nicknamed “the princess” by many Angolans and described by Forbes as Africa’s richest woman, is ex-president dos Santos’s first daughter.
He ruled Angola for 38 years — an era widely associated with corruption and nepotism — before stepping down in 2017. Under his chosen successor, Joao Lourenco, prosecutors have launched probes into the disappearance of billions of dollars in a country where a third of the population lives in poverty.
In August, the Supreme Court handed a five-year sentence to the ex-president’s son, Jose Filomeno dos Santos, for fraud arising from the time when he headed Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, from 2013 to 2018.
— With inputs from AP
