By 2012 African journalists were questioning the origins of Isabel dos Santos’s wealth. But as one commented: “Who’s going to listen to an African journalist?” (Guardian 24/1/20) By 2018, no one bothered asking anymore. Rui Pinto, a Portuguese hacker, facing imprisonment for hacking into football and publishing and exposing questionable practices, also did the same in relation to Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former President of Angola for 38 years, Jose Edwardo dos Santos. He hacked and released, in what has become known as the ‘Luanda Leaks,’ a mountain of information, over 700,000 documents, exposing the origin, sources and amassing of the over US$2 billion fortune of Isabel dos Santos. The documents were obtained by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa and shared with the International Consortium of Investiga-tive Journalists (ICIJ). They have been investigated by 37 media organisations.
