China virus crisis deepens as whistleblower doctor dies

Yahoo – AFP, Laurent THOMET, Jing Xuan TENG, February 7, 2020

Medical staff walks past a makeshift memorial to the late ophthalmologist Li Wenliang
at the Houhu Branch of Wuhan Central Hospital on February 7 (AFP Photo/STR, STR)

Beijing (AFP) - A Chinese doctor punished after raising the alarm about the new coronavirus died Friday after being infected by the pathogen, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has now killed more than 630 people.

At least 31,000 have been infected by the virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang brought to light in late December -- before becoming its latest victim.

The virus is believed to have emerged from a market selling exotic animals in Wuhan before jumping to humans and spreading across China and abroad as millions travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Researchers at the South China Agricultural University have identified the endangered pangolin as a "potential intermediate host" for the disease, as the genome sequences of viruses found on the scaly mammal are 99 percent identical to those on coronavirus patients.

The virus has since spread across China, prompting the government to lock down cities of tens of millions of people, and panic has spiralled around the globe as more than 240 cases have emerged in two dozen countries.

The media keep watch on the Diamond Princess cruise ship with over 3,000 

people on board as it sits in quarantine at Yokohama port (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI)

Hong Kong, meanwhile, announced it would forcibly quarantine arrivals from mainland China beginning Saturday, warning that anyone caught breaching the new rules faces up to six months in prison.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, whose countries have tussled over trade and human rights, spoke on the phone about the health emergency.

"We talked about, mostly about the coronavirus. They're working really hard and I think they're doing a very professional job," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday the United States would offer up to $100 million to China and other impacted countries to combat the fast-spreading coronavirus.

Beijing has been angered by bans on arrivals from China instituted by the United States and other countries.

A laboratory technician works on coronavirus samples at "Fire Eye" laboratory 

in Wuhan (AFP Photo/STR, STR)

Li, 34, died early Friday, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, an announcement that triggered deep sadness on social media over a doctor hailed as a hero.

"He is a hero who warned others with his life," a fellow Wuhan doctor wrote on Weibo.

There was also a rare collective bout of anger at the authorities and bold demands, including the hashtag "we demand freedom of speech", which was censored.

"Those fat officials who live on public money, may you die from a snowstorm," wrote another Weibo user in a comment that was later scrubbed.

In a sign that the criticism has shaken the Communist government, its anti-graft agency announced that it was sending a team to Wuhan to "conduct a comprehensive investigation into issues involving Dr. Li Wenliang reported by the masses".

A deserted street in Shanghai, as fear of the spread of the virus impacts 

cities across China, even those not in lockdown (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

The foreign ministry and the National Health Commission expressed condolences for his death.

Death censored

Li's death has also highlighted the enormous risks that frontline doctors have taken to treat patients in overwhelmed and under-equipped hospitals in Wuhan, the quarantined city of 11 million people where the virus emerged in December.

Medical staff are overstretched and lack sufficient protective gear, the deputy governor of Hubei province admitted Thursday.

Li sent out a message about the new coronavirus to colleagues on December 30 in Wuhan but was later among a group of people summoned by police for "rumour-mongering".

He later contracted the disease while treating a patient.

Censors appeared to struggle with how to deal with his death.

Striking medical workers demand Hong Kong close the border with China 

to contain the virus (AFP Photo/Philip FONG)

State-run newspaper Global Times and state broadcaster CCTV first reported on Weibo that Li had died late Thursday, only to delete their posts after the death rapidly surged to be among the top topics on the popular platform.

Analysts have said local authorities played down the extent of the outbreak in early January because they were holding political meetings at the time and wanted to project an aura of stability.

The first fatality was reported on January 11. The death toll has since soared to 636, with 73 more reported on Friday and an additional 3,000 new infections.

Global spread

To control the spread, authorities have placed some 56 million people in Wuhan and surrounding cities under virtual lockdown.

Posters warn residents in Beijing to take protective measures against the
coronavirus (AFP Photo/GREG BAKER)

Authorities in Wuhan are "combing" communities to find people suspected or confirmed to have the virus and place them in quarantine, state media said.

Major airlines have suspended flights to and from the country, while several countries have advised their citizens to leave China.

But cases keep emerging.

Two cruise ships carrying thousands of holidaymakers in Hong Kong and Japan have been placed under quarantine as authorities test people for infections.

On Friday another 41 people tested positive aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan, bringing the total number of infected cases on the ship to 61.

Timeline of events leading to the death of coronavirus whistleblower 

Chinese doctor Li Wenliang. (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

Another cruise ship carrying a passenger suspected of infection with coronavirus will not be allowed to dock in southern Japan, the government said Friday.

In Hong Kong, 3,600 people are facing a third night confined aboard the World Dream, where eight former passengers have tested positive for the virus.

While global concerns mount, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that that world was facing a "chronic shortage" of masks and other protective equipment.

Apple contractor Foxconn said Friday it would start making face masks alongside iPhones at its Shenzhen factory, aiming for 20 million by the end of February.

At least 31,000 have been infected by the virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang 

brought to light in late December -- before becoming its latest victim

The death of a whistleblowing doctor who was reprimanded for warning about the new coronavirus has sparked rare calls for political reform and free speech in China https://t.co/sSQVtqwdDy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 9, 2020

In El Salvador, government effort against gangs bears fruit

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos Mario MARQUEZ, February 8, 2020

Suspected members of the Barrio 18 gang are pictured at Isidro Menendez
Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

San Salvador (AFP) - Since his arrival in office in June, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has stepped up the country's war on criminal gangs, an effort that is bearing fruit according to experts who point to a falling murder rate.

The country of 6.5 million is one of the most violent in the world and its citizens also face chronic poverty which has prompted many to flee northward towards the United States, including in infamous migrant caravans.

In January El Salvador recorded 119 murders, its lowest monthly tally since the end of its civil war in 1992, the president said recently.

Its murder rate, meanwhile, has dropped massively between 2018 and 2019, from 51 to 35.6 inhabitants per 100,000.

When Bukele assumed office, criminal gangs intensified their activity in an apparent attempt to force the new government to make concessions such as easing jail conditions, analysts said.

A guard wathes over suspected Barrio 18 gang members at Isidro Menendez 

Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

Far from buckling, the government toughened its stance on jailed gang members.

"The message was clear: The gangs know that if they challenge the president, the jailed leaders will pay the consequences," said analyst Juan Ramon Medrano, a professor at Francisco Gavidia University.

Gangs holding back 

Justice and Security Minister Rogelio Rivas has repeated several times: "Now the government is in control of the country's prisons."

El Salvador's criminal gangs, which are involved in extortion, drug-trafficking and other crime, boast around 70,000 members, including 17,000 who are incarcerated.

According to Janette Aguilar, a researcher at the Central American University (UCA) of El Salvador, pressure from authorities has led to the gangs reigning in their activities.

Suspected members of the Barrio 18 gang are pictured at the Isidro Menendez 

Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

She suggested that "an agreement has been reached between the main rival gangs" Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13, to reign in their violent activities against each other.

Carlos Carcach, a researcher from the Higher School of Economics and Business said that "something is happening inside the gangs that explains them reducing their violence levels."

Bukele, 38, enjoys sky-high popularity ratings and his security policies have been well-received among weary Salvadorans.

Medrano says the public believes that under Bukele the police, with help from the military, are "trying harder" to combat criminal gangs while working "more intelligently."

Extortion still rampant

While there are fewer murders not all of the gangs' activities are on the decline.

Suspected members of the Barrio 18 gang are pictured in custody at Isidro 

Menendez Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

"There's been no decrease in extortion, which is the gangs' oxygen," said Medrano.

The president's biggest challenge is "to stop extortion and get to the root of the problem," which means preventing the gangs from recruiting new young members, he added.

But to do that, "youngsters need to have the opportunity to work and study to better themselves," he said.

Greater reduction of gang violence would open the way for more investment in El Salvador's poorest communities therefore helping the youngsters, he added.

France opens probe into figure skating underage sex abuse claims

Yahoo – AFP, Andréa BAMBINO, Eleonore DERMY, 4 February 2020

French prosecutors hae opened an inquiry into allegations of underage sexual
abuse made by former world bronze medallist Sarah Abitbol (pictured) last week

French prosecutors said Tuesday they had opened an investigation into claims of rape and sexual abuse of minors in figure skating following claims made by a former world championship medallist.

The probe, hailed as a "strong signal" by French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu and in which "the words of the victims must be heard", will focus on allegations made by skater Sarah Abitbol last week in her autobiography that she was raped by coach Gilles Beyer between the ages of 15 and 17.

"He (Beyer) started to do horrible things leading to sexual abuse and I was raped at 15," said Abitbol, now 44, in a video interview with L'Obs last week.

The inquiry will also "attempt to identify all the other victims who suffered... offences of the same nature", Paris-based prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement.

On the day that Abitbol's revelations emerged, sports daily L'Equipe published an investigation in which three other skaters accused Beyer and two other coaches, Jean-Roland Racle and Michel Lotz, of abuse and rape when they were minors.

Further allegations of underage sexual abuse emerged from former swimmers and tennis players.

On Friday, 62-year-old Beyer admitted to having had "intimate" and "inappropriate" relations, telling AFP he was "sincerely sorry" and apologising.

"I acknowledge having had intimate relationships with her," Beyer said in a statement.

"If my memories of the exact circumstances differ from hers, I am aware that, given my duties and her age at the time, these relationships were inappropriate."

Racle has denied the accusations while Lotz has not commented.

Calls for resignation

Abitbol's claims, which came on the heels of French tennis coach Andrew Geddes being jailed for 18 years for raping four underage players, gathered further pace on Monday when sports minister Maracineanu told Didier Gailhaguet to quit as president of France's ice skating federation.

French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu has called on Didier Gailhaguet (right)

to step down as ice skating federation president in the wake of allegations of 

sexual abuse of minors within the sport

"The weight of facts and their continuation over time illustrate that a general dysfunction exists within the federation," she said.

"Didier Gailhaguet cannot absolve himself of his moral and personal responsibility, so I have asked him to assume all his responsibilities and resign."

Maracineanu, a former swimming world champion, does not have the power to sack Gailhaguet but intimated that the federation would face state sanctions if he remains. Gailhaguet is due to hold a press conference on Wednesday.

Gailhaguet admitted to "mistakes", but defended his record on this matter.

"She did not listen to me and she certainly didn't hear me," said the 66-year-old who has been the most influential man in French ice skating since he first became president in 1998, some years after the alleged offences.

On Tuesday, former Olympic champion Gwendal Peizerat, who won the 2002 ice dance gold with Marina Anissina, said the revelations were "the tip of the iceberg".

"We're talking about rape, harassment ... Didier Gailhaguet is not the moral example we should be showing our children," said Peizerat, who unsuccessfully challenged Gailhaguet as skating chief, told AFP.

Gailhaguet has been president ever since apart from a three-year hiatus between 2004 and 2007 which followed a judging scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

He was suspended by the International Skating Union for three years from 2002 and duly gave up, temporarily, the presidency of the French federation.

Gailhaguet's accession to the presidency in 1998 opened the door for Beyer to take charge of the French national team. At the start of the 2000s, another skater made a complaint against Beyer which was followed up at administrative level but not by the judiciary.

The investigation led the sports ministry to remove him from his technical role at the federation, but he remained a coach at club level and held an executive position at the federation until 2018.

Gailhaguet on Monday attempted to deflect blame for Beyer's return to the federation following that inquiry, turning it instead on former sports minister Marie-George Buffet, who he was careful not to name.

"She removed him from us and she returned him," he said.

Buffet dismissed Gailhaguet's accusation as "some fog to escape the depth of the case".

Russian Church mulls stop to practice of blessing nukes

Yahoo – AFP, 4 February 2020

Blessing ships and aircraft such as this SU-27 SM fighter jet is believed to
bestow divine protection

The Russian Orthodox Church has proposed a stop to the practice of having priests bless weapons of mass destruction, though sprinkling holy water on planes and ships is still deemed appropriate.

The Church on Monday published a draft document outlining its role in blessing Orthodox Christians who "protect the Fatherland" and "carry out their military duty", inviting internet users to discuss the proposal online.

Russians often ask priests to bless anything from new cars and flats to Soyuz spaceships in the belief that the gesture bestows divine protection.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, priests have also begun blessing troops, planes and ships, and all sorts of weapons, from Kalashnikov rifles to nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles.

But the document proposed that "blessing any type of weapons the usage of which can inflict an indefinite number of deaths, including weapons with indiscriminate effects or weapons of mass destruction... be removed from pastoral practice."

At the same time, it remains "appropriate" to "bless transport used by soldiers on land, water and in the air", to ask God to protect the men using them, it said.

The Russian military has forged ever closer ties to the Church under Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is overseeing the construction of a huge cathedral for Russia's armed forces outside Moscow.

It is to be opened on May 9, the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War.

Since 2010 the military has inducted priests into its ranks, including an airborne unit which can deploy with mobile inflatable chapels.

Blessing ships and aircraft such as this SU-27 SM fighter jet is believed to bestow divine protection.

Prince Andrew accused of 'zero cooperation' in Epstein case

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, January 27, 2020

Prince Andrew has said he regrets his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein (AFP
Photo/JOHN THYS)

New York (AFP) - Prince Andrew has provided "zero cooperation" regarding late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and has yet to respond to a FBI request for an interview, a US prosecutor said Monday.

Andrew denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein and said in November he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required."

But New York attorney Geoffrey Berman, who is leading an investigation into possible co-conspirators of the disgraced US financier, said his office and the FBI had not heard from Andrew despite his offer to assist.

"To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation," Berman told reporters during a news conference outside Epstein's former New York home where Andrew has admitted staying at in the past.

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to request for comment when contacted by AFP.

Queen Elizabeth II's second son was forced to step back from royal duties after he faced outrage over an interview with the BBC late last year in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.

Andrew, 59, also denied having sexual relations with Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was trafficked to have sex with friends of Epstein when she was 17.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in a New York jail last summer while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

He was a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager who befriended countless celebrities over the years, including US President Donald Trump.

US justice officials are investigating how Jeffrey Epstein, one of America's most 

high-profile on-remand detainees, was able to kill himself when he was supposed to 

be under close watch (AFP Photo/HO)

Epstein was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and another of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

He denied the charges but was facing up to 45 years in jail if found guilty.

'Ill-judged association'

Determined to obtain justice despite his death, dozens of women who say they were abused by Epstein have sued his estate and prosecutors have pledged to pursue any accomplices.

"Jeffrey Epstein couldn't have done what he did without the assistance of others and I can assure you that our investigation is moving forward," Berman said Monday.

Giuffre says she had sex with the prince at the central London home of Epstein's socialite girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001.

In what proved to be a disastrous BBC interview, Andrew said he did not remember meeting Giuffre and that he "absolutely and categorically" did not have sex with her.

Afterwards he issued a statement in which he said he "I... unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein."

While Epstein's death has been ruled a suicide -- with two prison guards charged for alleged failure to monitor him -- it has also fueled conspiracy theories, mostly speculating he was murdered to stop him revealing compromising information about wealthy acquaintances.

Several of Epstein's accusers have said Maxwell recruited them to provide sexual favors for Epstein and some of his associates.

Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of paying young girls for massages but served just 13 months in jail under a secret plea deal struck with the then state prosecutor.

Weinstein drew up 'red flag list' of women, rape trial told

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, January 24, 2020

Harvey Weinstein (C), shown arriving at the Manhattan Criminal Court on
January 24, 2020, faces life imprisonment if convicted of predatory sexual assault
charges related to two women (AFP Photo/Johannes EISELE)

New York (AFP) - Harvey Weinstein told a private investigator to approach women he suspected were detailing sexual misconduct allegations against him to journalists, his rape trial was told Friday, as the court heard from Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez.

Two months before the #MeToo movement ignited in late 2017, the then Hollywood titan emailed a "red flag list" of people he wanted investigated, prosecutors and a witness said in the high-profile proceedings which began hearing testimony this week.

The list included dozens of names, some of which were highlighted in red to indicate individuals that the now-disgraced movie producer was most concerned about.

They included the actress Rose McGowan, who Weinstein claimed was trying to extort him, and "The Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra, who accused him of rape in graphic testimony on Thursday.

Weinstein, 67, faces life imprisonment if convicted of predatory sexual assault charges related to two women.

He is accused of raping actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and of forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi.

Investigator Sam Anson told the New York court that he received the email from Weinstein on August 17, 2017 but did not carry out his instructions.

Anson, who now works for LA-based Guidepost Solutions but then ran his own firm, testified that he also had a telephone conversation with Weinstein around the same time.

"He said that there was concern that articles were being written about him that would discuss his sexual conduct in a negative way," Anson recalled.

'He'll destroy me'

The New York Times and New Yorker magazine detailed sexual assault allegations against Weinstein in October 2017, sparking the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

More than 80 women, including Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, have since accused him of sexual misconduct.

Actress Rosie Perez, nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for 1993 film "Fearless," testified Friday that she spoke to Sciorra on the phone the night of the alleged attack almost 30 years ago.

Weinstein waved at her as Perez was asked to pick him out in the courtroom.

"Annabella said, 'I think something bad happened. I think it was rape," Perez, 55, said.

Several months later, in 1994, she learned from Sciorra that the perpetrator had been Weinstein, Perez added.

"I said, 'Please go the police.' But she said, 'I can't, he'll destroy me."

Defense attorney Damon Cheronis accused Perez of contradicting the account she gave journalist Ronan Farrow in his New Yorker article when she said she learned of the attack well after it occurred.

He said now her story "mirrored" Sciorra's.

The prosecution also called former playboy model Kara Young who told the court that while watching the 1994 Oscars at a friend's house she noticed that Sciorra had cuts on her upper thighs.

"She said she was cutting herself," Young, 45, said, bolstering Sciorra's testimony that she started self-harming after the alleged attack.

Rape 'myths'

Weinstein says all his sexual relationships were consensual.

Defense attorneys have presented correspondence between Mann and Weinstein which they say show the pair were "in a loving relationship."

Early Friday, the prosecution called forensic psychiatrist Barbara Ziv to dispel several "myths" surrounding rape.

Ziv, who testified when comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault, said victims of sexual assault commonly remain in contact with their attacker for years after the incident.

"That contact can range from text messages to emails to continuing a relationship with them," she said.

The psychiatrist said victims often keep quiet because they possess some sort of affection for the abuser or because the perpetrator may also have the power to wreck their job and other relationships.

"I can handle this trauma but God forbid they could ruin the rest of my life and make it impossible for me to go on," victims sometimes think, Ziv said.

Cheronis challenged Ziv on whether women ever report a consensual sexual encounter as a rape years later "out of shame."

"Anything is possible, (but) it's not usual," she replied.

The trial continues.

Jehovah’s Witness abuse victims unhappy at lack of care, report shows

DutchNews, January 24, 2020 - By Robin Pascoe

Photo: Depositphotos.com

A report by Utrecht University researchers into sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness community in the Netherlands has found that most victims are unhappy at the way their complaints have been dealt with by the church. 

The researchers received 751 reports of abuse, ranging from incest to rape, of which 292 were made by the victims themselves. 

Just 25% of victims said they were satisfied at the way their complaints against the community had been handled and only 27% of cases were ever passed on to the police or other officials. 

Most of the reports related to abuse in the past, with just 32 covering the past 10 years. 

The Dutch branch went to court to try to stop the publication of the report but judges on Thursday ruled that it could be published in the public interest. 

The researchers were commissioned to write a report on behalf of the justice ministry, following claims that sexual abuse claims are hushed up and that victims received no help. 

After the first revelations were published by Trouw in 2017, hundreds of people came forward to report their own abuse stories. 

Justice minister Sander Dekker earlier called for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to set up their own independent inquiry, but the church declined. He then commissioned his own report, the first investigation of its kind ever undertaken into a religious community in the Netherlands. 

Action 

The minister has now criticised the board’s reaction, saying sect officials still deny that they need to take action. The board was shown the main conclusions last December. 

‘Rather than being open and acknowledging what has happened, the community tried to stop publication,’ Dekker said in a briefing to MPs. ‘The fact that so many vulnerable victims feel they are alone, and could not find their way to official help, affects me deeply.’ 

The board is still resisting pressure to set up an independent hotline, Dekker said. ‘I  now want to have a last, urgent meeting with the board to call on them to take over the report’s conclusions,’ he said. 

In their conclusions, the Utrecht researchers have also urged parliament to draft new legislation which would require religious communities to inform the police when they are told about cases of abuse. Dekker did not mention this option in his briefing.

Angola vows to bring back billionaire dos Santos over graft claims

Yahoo – AFP, in London, January 20, 2020

A trove of leaked documents allege that Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daught
of Angola's ex-president, amassed her wealth by plundering state funds (AFP Photo/
FERNANDO VELUDO)

Luanda (AFP) - Angolan prosecutors vowed on Monday to use "all possible" means to bring back Isabel dos Santos, the former president's billionaire daughter, after thousands of leaked documents revealed new allegations she siphoned off hundreds of millions in public money.

Dubbed Africa's richest woman, dos Santos is accused of using her father's backing to plunder state funds from the oil-rich but impoverished southern African country and -- with the help of Western consulting firms -- move the money offshore.

She stopped living in Angola after her authoritarian father Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for nearly 40 years, stepped down in 2017 for his anointed successor Joao Lourenco.

She now spends her time between London and Dubai.

"We will use all possible means and activate international mechanisms to bring Isabel dos Santos back to the country," prosecutor general Helder Pitra Gros told public radio.

"We have asked for international support from Portugal, Dubai and other countries," he added.

The 46-year-old dos Santos is already being investigated as part of an anti-graft campaign launched by Lourenco, who has vowed to root out corruption.

Prosecutors last month froze bank accounts and holdings owned by the businesswoman and her Congolese-Danish husband Sindika Dokolo, a move dos Santos described as motivated by a groundless political vendetta.

Gros' remarks came after a trove of 715,000 files dubbed the "Luanda Leaks" on Sunday revealed how the eldest daughter of the former president allegedly moved the vast sums into overseas assets.

The award-winning New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) behind the release alleged the international system has allowed powerful individuals like her to move assets around the world, without questions.

Prosecutors have already frozen the bank accounts and holdings owned by dos 

Santos and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo (AFP Photo/FERNANDO VELUDO)

"Based on a trove of more than 715,000 files, our investigation highlights a broken international regulatory system that allows professional services firms to serve the powerful with almost no questions asked," the ICIJ wrote.

The group said its team of 120 reporters in 20 countries was able to trace "how an army of Western financial firms, lawyers, accountants, government officials and management companies helped (dos Santos and Dokolo) hide assets from tax authorities".

'Highly coordinated attack'

Dos Santos took to Twitter to refute the claims, launching a salvo of around 30 tweets in Portuguese and English, accusing journalists involved in the investigation of telling "lies".

"My fortune is built on my character, my intelligence, education, capacity for work, perseverance," she wrote.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and educated in Britain, dos Santos -- scornfully nicknamed "the princess" -- was named Africa's first female billionaire in 2013 by Forbes, which estimates her current wealth at $2.1 billion.

Her lawyer dismissed the ICIJ findings as a "highly coordinated attack" orchestrated by Angola's current rulers, in a statement quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

Dos Santos herself told BBC Africa the file dump was part of a "witch hunt" meant to discredit her and her father.

She headed Angola's national oil company Sonangol until her father's successor forced her out after becoming president in 2017.

"Red flags really went up when she was appointed head of the state oil company at a time when her father still had significant influence," said Daniel Bruce, who heads the UK branch of anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International.

Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos ruled for nearly 40 years 

before stepping down in 2017 (AFP Photo/Adalberto ROQUE)

"You could see there were major conflicts of interest starting to emerge," he added.

Dos Santos said on Wednesday that she would consider running for president in the next election in 2022.

Western consultants

The ICIJ investigation said Western consulting firms such as PwC and Boston Consulting Group were "apparently ignoring red flags" while helping her stash away public assets.

"Regulators around the globe have virtually ignored the key role Western professionals play in maintaining an offshore industry that drives money laundering and drains trillions from public coffers," the report said.

Its document trove included redacted letters allegedly showing how consultants sought out ways to open non-transparent bank accounts.

London-based firm PwC was among those advising her businesses.

The consultancy said it had "immediately initiated an investigation" in the wake of the "very serious and concerning allegations."

"We have also taken action to terminate any ongoing work for entities controlled by members of the dos Santos family," it added in a statement.

The Boston Consulting Group did not immediately respond to an attempt to get comment by AFP.

One confidential document allegedly drafted by Boston Consulting in September 2015 outlined a complex scheme for the oil company to move its money offshore.

The investigation also published a similar 99-page presentation from KPMG.

"UK firms... have played a role both in helping her to amass this fortune but also to invest the proceeds of these suspicious deals," said Bruce.

"There are questions to answer," he added. "Particularly for those who helped her acquire property."

Dos Santos and Dokolo have invested in several luxurious London houses and amassed an impressive collection of valuable artwork.

Her husband, a well-known collector of African arts, developed that passion from his billionaire banker father Augustin Dokolo Sanu.