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angola: Explain Missing Government Funds

State Oil Company is Main Focus of Investigation

December 21, 2011

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Children pick through rubbish dumped beside a Sonangol (Angolan state oil company) complex. Angola is the second

largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

© 2010 Robin Hammond/Panos

Related Materials:

  Angola: Oil Wealth Eludes Nation’s Poor 

APRIL 13, 2010

Press release

More Coverage:

More Human Rights Watch Reporting on Angola

Angola’s government has taken credit for improving transparency over its oil

revenues and auditing the state oil company. But the disappearance of $32 billion

raises serious questions about its efforts and underscores the need for public

accountability

Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director

(Washington, DC) – The government of Angola should promptly provide a full public

accounting for US$32 billion in missing government funds thought to be linked to

the state oil company, Human Rights Watch said today. A December 2011 report bythe International Monetary Fund revealed that the government funds were spent or

transferred from 2007 through 2010 without being properly documented in the

budget. The sum is equivalent to one-quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic

Product (GDP).

 “Angola’s government has taken credit for improving transparency over its oil

revenues and auditing the state oil company,” said Arvind Ganesan, business and

human rights director at Human Rights Watch. “But the disappearance of $32 billion

raises serious questions about its efforts and underscores the need for public

accountability.”  

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Human Rights Watch has identified a previous major gap in funds, in which more

than $4 billion in oil revenues from 1997 through 2002 disappeared, pointing to

mismanagement and suspected corruption. Human Rights Watch has also reported

on subsequent improvements in Angola’s management of its lucrative oil sector

that were prompted by past problems. Human Rights Watch has also criticized the

government for not adequately addressing serious economic and social rights

problems in the country. Despite the country’s vast oil wealth, social indicators

remain low in Angola and the population has limited access to social services.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), recent actions by the Angolan

Finance Ministry to monitor more closely the state oil company, Sonangol, following

a 2010 legal reform have led to the discovery of financial flows into foreign escrow

accounts beyond what can be explained by Angola’s debt service obligations. Such

as-yet-unexplained transfers account for $7.1 billion. The government is

investigating those outflows, as well as trying to identify what happened to the

remaining $24.9 billion that appear as an unexplained discrepancy in government

accounts. One possibility identified by the IMF is that Sonangol has understated the

funds it receives, including in connection with economic activities not currently

reflected in the budget.

The government has pledged to prepare a report matching budgetary information

with data on funds received from Sonangol ahead of the next IMF review under its

$1.4 billion Standby Arrangement with the government that is scheduled to be

completed by February 2012. It is also due to continue publishing budget reports

and independent external audits of the state-oil company.

Since March 2011, rallies inspired by the pro-democracy movements in North Africa

and the Middle East have been organized by youth in protest against corruption and

misrule under President José Eduardo dos Santos, in power for 32 years. Human

Rights Watch has documented efforts by the Angolan authorities to curtail media

coverage of the demonstrations and the use of excessive force against protests on

March 7, September 3, and December 3 in the capital, Luanda.

 “Tens of billions of dollars could be used for the benefit of the Angolan people – 

instead the government can’t account for them,” Ganesan said. “Angolans deservea full public explanation for where those billions went.”