The text, which can be read here, made Rafael Marques open a Twitter account so that he could call me a liar and sponsor a law suit against me in the Portuguese justice system.
Well, a few months after my writing, some undeniable facts that reinforce my coincidences thesis are now known.
I decided to bring them to the public, even if inside the strict limits of a professional publication, because I am convinced that Rafael Marques was unaware of them by the time he signed the contract with Forbes and I think he would like to be informed about them.
First of all, I recall that this episode arose from the choice by the American magazine of a political activist connected, at least in the past, to the «Soros Media Empire», as its only source and co-author of an article about the Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos.
It is known that Rafael Marques worked, for at least 7 years, as an Angolan delegate for the Open Society Foundation, one of the many that is sponsored by Soros. It is also known that the suit that Rafael Marques filed against Angola at the UN Human Rights Committee, in Switzerland, was subsidised by the same foundation.
Now, what recent revelations allow to understand is the time-wise coincidence between what Forbes ordered and a business deal in which the interests of Isabel dos Santos and George Soros are antagonized.
On the grounds argued by Unitel's Angolan partners, among which is the state company Sonangol, to claim their right to buy the participation of a society called PTI in the mobile company, it is written: «From the general assembly interpellation that was convened, resulted of course a breach of trust between shareholders and, as a result, the shareholder PTI SGPS SA offered its shares for sale, by means of a letter addressed to the remaining shareholders in July 2013».
Therefore, relying on what was quoted before, chance would have it that, last summer, when Rafael Marques was writing the Forbes article, some Unitel's shareholders were trying to sell to other Unitel's shareholders 25% of the company's shares. Certainly for best price. Which is to say something between 700 million and 900 million Euros.
That is a lot of money, even for global millionaires, and it has a very significant trading band.
It is known, even without the "investigations" that Forbes made by reading Lisbon economical press, that amongst the buyers with pre-emption rights was Rafael Marques's target, Isabel dos Santos. And, by the way, who were (are) the sellers?
Our Press, maybe due to excessive patriotism, has been referring to PTI participation as if it was our PT. Nevertheless, a great concern for fact precision makes me stress that the participation is of PTI SGPS SA, a society that is in fact participated by our PT, but that is equally held by a Nigerian investment fund called Helios.
Well, here is the fatal detail – fatal for Rafael Marques's credibility (and Forbes', but Forbes hasn't issued any law suit against me...).
It seems that Helios has for its best-known partners Madeleine Albright (yes, the head of the diplomatic corps for Bill Clinton) and... George Soros. Plus: the association of such names to Helios was announced, in the financial media, as an investment focused on mobile communication operations in Africa (which is Unitel's activity).
Therefore, it is confirmed that the speculator and philanthropist George Soros – whose organization supported Rafael Marques so much (mind the careful past tense) – had interests, certainly legitimate ones, that went against the ones of Isabel dos Santos, targeted by Forbes. All of this in the precise, exact, punctual, specific moment that Rafael Marques was preparing his article. Forbes' demand was right on the spot. What a shot!
We have to assume – and I am the first to do it – that Rafael Marques is a well-meaning idealist and that well-meaning idealists haven't got a clue what goes on in the business world. That is why, with the best of intentions, I insist on publishing this article. So that Rafael Marques can know...
Luís Paixão Martins
Communication Consultant
