Angola’s sale of 43 hotels of the IU and Bina chain is illegal
Paris, December 11th, 2025 – A Presidential decree dated 28 November 2025 authorised the sale of 43 hotel units of the IU and Bina chain, as revealed an article published in Forbes early December.
Presented as a “revitalization strategy” to attract private investment and accelerate the sector’s recovery, this decision is illegal and unacceptably flawed. It appears to rely on the criminal proceedings conducted in Angola against Mr Carlos Manuel de SÃO VICENTE, which has been assessed by UN experts to have violated his fundamental rights and led to his arbitrary detention.
For the record, in November 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found, in its Opinion 63-2023, that these proceedings had failed to meet the fair trial standards and that Mr. SÃO VICENTE had been prosecuted following an illegal process, by judicial authorities lacking independence. The UN body condemned his arbitrary detention, as being in contravention of serious gravity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both ratified by Angola. It urged Angola to immediately release Mr. SÃO VICENTE and to compensate him.
Despite his lawyers repeated calls for his release, the Angolan authorities have engaged in a veritable campaign of lies and disparagement against him, while dispossessing him and all the companies which he founded further. The announced sale falls within this line of conduct.
Mr. SÃO VICENTE also wants to reiterate that he has not committed any crime, and that his wealth is of legitimate origin.
In any event, according to Mr SÃO VICENTE, the only legal owner of all hotels is company AAA Activos LDA who has not received any sentence notification. It therefore remains a bona fide third- party, not involved in any judicial proceedings conducted by the Angola authorities to seize or expropriate its buildings.
This means that Angolan and foreign investors purchasing these hotels would expose themselves to legal actions, challenging the validity of their ownership.
Overall, this relentless campaign against Mr. SÃO VICENTE must cease, and the UN Opinion must finally be implemented.
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