The Swiss federal attorney has searched the premises of Swiss-Angolan financier Jean-Claude Bastos. The financial market regulator has also weighed in, putting the business empire of Bastos under severe and potentially terminal stress.
The federal investigators in Bern believe that Jean-Claude Bastos has laundered money. The bureau this week conducted several searches at offices belonging to Bastos’ business, according to Switzerland’s «Handelszeitung» (report in German).
The authority last month launched an investigation against unknown on allegations of money laundering. The probe touches upon activities involving assets of the central bank of Angola and the African nations state fund. The noose is tightening around Bastos’ neck.
Squeezing Bastos
Angola’s President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço pulled the plug on a mandate under which Bastos and his Quantum Global firm managed assets for the state fund and the central bank. The business volume was more than $5 billion.
The investigation against Bastos in Switzerland are but the latest episode in a long series of incidents that are slowly putting the squeeze on Bastos, who got rich thanks to his Angola connections.
No More Mauritius, No More U.K.
In April, authorities in Mauritius froze several hundred millions of dollars of Bastos and dozens of his accounts. Bastos had some of his Quantum funds licensed on the popular holiday island. The U.K. pulled even two weeks ago: a court ordered the freezing of Bastos and Quantum accounts with about $3 billion.
Bastos is the friend of the son of José Eduardo Dos Santos, the former president of Angola, who had kept the oil-rich country under his tight control. His son, Filomeno Dos Santos, had been the head of the state fund and was forced to forego his role at the beginning of the year.
Clean Bill of Health
Bastos always maintained that his business ventures were clean. He charged the as much as 2.5 percent per year for the management of the funds. The money laundering allegations may concern his personal projects, for which he used funds belonging to the state fund.
The businessman denied any wrong-doing in connection with the deals. Years ago, Finma had probed Bastos and his Quantum Global firm and had detected nothing untoward.
