Opening in court today is a civil case for damages taken out by Africa’s ‘richest woman’ Isabel dos Santos (daughter of former long-term president José Eduardo dos Santos) against former Portuguese MEP and anti-corruption ‘bulldog’ Ana Gomes.
At issue are six tweets in which Gomes accused dos Santos of ‘money laundering’ and using Portugal for this nefarious purpose.
Gomes continues to stand by her words, stressing that she has already supplied European and national authorities with “a lot of information that should question the suitability of Isabel dos Santos” for her various business roles.
““I am not worried about the ‘lady engineer’ Isabel dos Santos (a title used in Portugal)”, Gomes told Lusa last month. “I am, and have for a long time been, concerned by the ease and complicity she found to invest in Portugal” with “money that obviously belonged, and belongs, to the Angolan people…”
Gomes’ latest tweet on the case opening in Sintra’s Juizo Local Cível at 2pm shows a huge number of followers are right behind her.
The essence of Isabel dos Santos ‘case’ is that Gomes’ tweets have offended her good name and reputation. In Portuguese legalese this translates into Isabel dos Santos’ “rights of personality” having been ‘offended’.
Credit to Natasha Donn of the Portugal Resident
