Portuguese hacker claims Angola corruption leaks

LISBON: Lawyers for a Portuguese computer hacker said on Monday he was responsible for revealing the dealings of Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos, a corruption scandal with fallout across Europe and Africa.

The hacker, Rui Pinto, handed over a hard drive "containing all data related to the recent revelations concerning Ms. Isabel Dos Santos´s fortune" to a whistle blowing organisation in 2018, his lawyers said.

The tycoon daughter of former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos now faces a slew of corruption allegations stretching across Angola´s state oil and diamond industries and banks -- all of which she has denied in interviews from London.

Rui Pinto -- described by his lawyers as a "very important European whistle blower" -- is also behind the so-called Football Leaks, a series of stories about financial dealings and transfers involving clubs in Europe´s top leagues.

The football revelations, which first appeared in 2015 and were eventually published in Germany´s Spiegel and other European outlets, sparked criminal investigations in countries including Britain and France.

Pinto, 31, was extradited from Hungary last March over allegations that he hacked into the systems of investment fund Doyen Sports and tried to blackmail them in return for not publishing information he had taken.