EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION: REVELATIONS FROM MÁRIO LEITE DA SILVA, ISABEL DOS SANTOS’ TRUSTED MAN (5/5)
Payments to the company Matter were made quickly and through banks controlled by Isabel dos Santos. In the process was a bank manager who was found dead two days later, which intrigued the Dutch investigator. Leite da Silva said he didn’t find it strange, as the man had been depressed for months. When the inquiry ended, the manager handed over thousands of documents to the investigator, covering the period from 2005 to 2020, and even promised to send more.
Van Andel reviewed the timeline of events from several months earlier, focusing on international payments made through Banco BIC. He also highlighted how quickly the bank authorized payments of over 100 million euros, even amid the sudden replacement of two Esperaza directors and despite the need to comply with various legal formalities, including in the Netherlands. For the investigator, the extreme speed was even more suspicious given that it was later discovered the money movement accounted for about a third of Banco BIC Cabo Verde’s entire balance sheet.
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Willem Van Andel (WVA): “Was Mr. da Cunha involved in these payments?”
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Mário Leite da Silva (MLS): “Who is Mr. da Cunha?”
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WVA: “You don’t know who Mr. da Cunha is?”
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MLS: “No.”
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MLS: “Ok.”
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MLS: “Ah, Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha?”
Mário Leite da Silva apologized for not immediately recalling the name of the Eurobic official, whom Van Andel suspected might have been involved in the payments to Matter—a senior bank figure who committed suicide shortly after the Luanda Leaks case became public. The sequence of events led the investigator to ask whether Leite da Silva thought it could be more than just a coincidence. “No, that’s not the impression I have, sorry,” the Portuguese manager replied. “Ok, then why do you think this man was found dead two days after the Luanda Leaks were published?” asked Van Andel. “What I’ve heard from his friends is that he had been depressed since the summer of 2017. Why, I don’t know. Family issues or something like that, but I have no relationship whatsoever with Mr. Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha,” Leite da Silva emphasized, pointing out that Banco BIC Cabo Verde and Eurobic—where Nuno worked—were different entities.
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WVA: “Did Esperaza also have an account at Eurobic or only at Banco BIC?”
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MLS: “I think Esperaza had an account at Eurobic and another one at Banco BIC Cabo Verde.”
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WVA: “By the way, how were you paid between 2006 and 2020?”
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MLS: “I was a board member at several companies in Portugal. I was on the board of Banco BPI. I was president of Efacec, which was nationalized after this media campaign. I was a board member at a telecom company called NOS, and I had compensation from Fidequity…”
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WVA: “But not from Esperaza?”
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MLS: “No, nothing, never.”
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WVA: “And not from Exem?”
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MLS: “Never. And not from Matter either.”
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WVA: “Ok. One more question…”
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MLS: “I’m (inaudible) a bit tired, because…”
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WVA: “We’re almost done.”
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MLS: “No, no, no, we have all the time.”
But Van Andel insisted they really had to wrap up soon because the former CFO of Sonangol, Sarju Raikundalia, was about to arrive for his own questioning. He reminded Leite da Silva that the focus remained on what had happened in 2017, which for him was the most important part of the investigation. Leite da Silva pointed out that he had brought documents spanning from 2005 to 2020—countless emails, reports, and resolutions—to show full cooperation. “I have nothing to hide,” he stressed. Van Andel thanked him and said they had a few minutes left to talk about anything Leite da Silva might want to add. “I don’t want you to leave here and later say, ‘Ah, I wanted to say this.’”
It was almost 2:20 p.m., and they needed to take a short break, but before leaving the room, Van Andel recommended that Leite da Silva help himself to some of the food available. The recorder started again a few minutes later. The questions continued, and Leite da Silva kept answering until well past 3:00 p.m. Van Andel then said he was open to receiving any further information Leite da Silva wanted to send via email, and the latter even offered his mobile number to ensure he remained reachable. He began dictating the number to Eveline Neele, Van Andel’s assistant investigator, but perhaps due to fatigue, he hesitated several times and momentarily forgot the sequence. “It’s so stupid. When we want to say our, our, our own number…,” he apologized before finally getting it right.
Van Andel began saying goodbye and even joked as he looked at the huge stack of paper documents—not to mention the digital data that had been promised. “We’ll need a second plane to carry all this.”
A few minutes later, at 3:08 p.m. on May 30, 2022, the inquiry was concluded.
18/07/2025
