Angola-Russia Debt Deal

In 2011, Corruption Watch was approached with a cache of documents that exposed one of the most egregious cases of financial crime and corruption we had encountered.

The documents told the detailed story of how, via the insertion of dubious middlemen into a Debt Deal between Russia and Angola, hundreds of millions of dollars were diverted from the treasuries of both Russia and Angola (one of the poorest countries in the world) and into the pockets of businessmen, arms dealers and serving politicians, all ably facilitated by global banks in secrecy jurisdictions ranging from Switzerland to Cyprus.

Together with Associação Mãos Livres (ML), a human rights organization based in Luanda with offices in Cabinda and Huambo, we present the full story of the Corrupt Angola-Russia Debt Deal.