Angola seeks to remove Quantum Global as asset manager

Angola’s sovereign wealth fund (FSDEA), is taking steps to remove Swiss-based Quantum Global as its asset manager, it said on Friday.

“FSDEA has great concerns about Quantum Global’s approach to investment of the FSDEA funds, as it believes that is not fully aligned with the principles for which the FSDEA was established,” the fund said in a statement.

The move comes two weeks after Mauritius froze bank accounts and suspended business licences linked to Quantum Global Investments Africa Management.

QG Investments Africa Management, which said it was cooperating with authorities in Mauritius, is run by Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, a business partner of Jose Filomeno dos Santos and the director of Quantum Global Investment Management.

Quantum Global could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the past, they have pledged to cooperate with relevant authorities against ‘unwarranted attacks on our reputation’.

Jose Filomeno dos Santos, the son of José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola’s former president, was until recently the head of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund.

The younger dos Santos has been charged with fraud against Angola’s central bank, involving the transfer of $500 million in Britain.

Dos Santos is the highest-profile figure to be investigated for corruption since President Joao Lourenco took power last September, vowing to combat years of endemic graft in Africa’s second-largest oil producer.

His half-sister, Isabel dos Santos, has also been removed as chair of state oil company Sonangol.