>> NARRATOR: Now, two stories on this special edition of FRONTLINE.

First, in Afghanistan, with peace talks ongoing... >> We’ve been wanting to make a deal and so have the Taliban... >> NARRATOR: Correspondent Najibullah Quraishi on the ground with Taliban and ISIS fighters.

>> Mullah Barada is the co-founder of the Taliban.

>> NARRATOR: And an exclusive interview with the Taliban leader negotiating with the U.S. And later, in Angola-- A worldwide investigation of Africa’s richest woman.

>> In this case the daughter of the president... >> NARRATOR: A trove of more than 700,000 leaked documents.

>> So there is an orchestrated attack by the current government that is completely politically motivated.

>> NARRATOR: And how big-name American companies are involved.

>> They're helping a very, very rich woman who’s taking money from Angolan taxpayers become even more rich.

>> NARRATOR: These two stories on this special edition of FRONTLINE.

>> A soldier from Fort Bragg was killed after an explosion in Afghanistan.

>> In another deadly attack, a car bomb exploded in a crowded street.

95 people are dead.

>> A bunch of people have been killed in eastern Afghanistan in an airstrike carried out by government and U.S. forces.

>> Two Americans were killed during a military operation early today, casualties of the longest war in American history.

>> NARRATOR: November 2019, Afghanistan.

Journalist Najibullah Quraishi is making a dangerous journey into Taliban territory.

>> We just left Kabul.

Our driver was warning, saying there are going to be Taliban, it's going to be a problem for you.

Those big holes are all from the IED explosions.

>> NARRATOR: Najibullah has been covering the war here for almost 20 years.

(gunfire) He was here in 2001 when the U.S. and its allies invaded and drove the Taliban from power.

In the decade that followed, they filmed many times with the Taliban as they fought back and regained territory across the country.

And in 2015, he met with ISIS fighters when the group was first emerging here.

Now, Najibullah has returned to his home country at a critical moment.

President Trump has committed to end America's longest war, and has even been negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban.

But the situation on the ground remains violent and unpredictable.

>> The driver is telling me, the day before yesterday, there was three explosions.

They put an IED, and mainly for the government vehicles.

>> NARRATOR: Najibullah is heading into a Taliban stronghold near the city of Ghazni, less than 100 miles from the capitol, Kabul.

>> This is Ghazni town.

It's under control of the government, but they control just the government compound.

Last night was fighting, from behind these shops.

The Taliban, they were attacking on the government.

It's mean they are everywhere.

>> NARRATOR: He's had to make a complicated plan to get into the Taliban-controlled territory.

>> Must go with the drivers from the same area, because the car is known for the Taliban.

This is the car they suggested to be there.

(horn honks) This was the last checkpoint we just crossed.

From here onward, the Taliban, they're in power.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: U.S. and Afghan forces had driven the Taliban from this strategic mountain valley, but now, this is Taliban country.

>> We are in the town where we are supposed to be.

There is a Talib with a walkie-talkie.

Maybe he is going to direct us, I don't know.

>> NARRATOR: Najibullah and his team are met by a local commander.

They are joined by more and more armed fighters.

They head to the group's base, which flies the white flag of the Taliban.

Najibullah is concerned that such a large group could be the target of an airstrike.

>> We want to do the interviews very fast, because of the drone.

>> NARRATOR: The Taliban leaders here claim they now control more territory than at any point since the U.S. invaded in 2001.

(speaking local language): >> NARRATOR: The Afghan government disputes this, and claims it controls 94% of the population.

♪ ♪ But to show the extent of their territory, the Taliban here let Najibullah and his team fly a drone over the valley.

They perform military drills out in the open.

AHMADI (speaking local language) >> NARRATOR: The fighters gather around Najibullah's colleague, Karim Shah, who's been operating the drone camera.

>> NARRATOR: Another commander leads them to one of the villages under Taliban control.

(engine humming) There are few people on the streets.

But after the Taliban escort leaves, one resident approaches them.

MAN (speaking local language): >> NARRATOR: The Taliban is seeking ultimate control of the country, and refuses to negotiate with the Afghan government, which it regards as a U.S. puppet.

Najibullah asks the commanders here what it would take to end the fighting.

>> NARRATOR: For over a year, as part of the U.S. effort to withdraw from Afghanistan, the Trump administration has been conducting on-and-off negotiations with the Taliban leadership.

But the fighters here were frustrated that President Trump had recently suspended the talks after an American soldier was killed.

AHMADI: >> NARRATOR: Najibullah and his team are escorted out of the valley.

♪ ♪ They take the battle-scarred road back to Kabul.

♪ ♪ He's surprised by what he's seen and heard from the Taliban.

>> This specific group I met, they were completely different than previous groups I've met before.

Normally, when I was embedding with a group of the Taliban, they were preparing for fighting, to block the road, but this group was completely different.

They didn't have anything to make them worry, because the entire area was belong to them.

>> NARRATOR: But beyond the Taliban's gains, the fate of Afghanistan is also tied to the threat from ISIS.

While the group has lost most of its territory in Iraq and Syria, its militants are still active here.

They claim to have thousands of fighters, and have been responsible for major attacks in Kabul.

>> My next plan is to meet a group of ISIS in Afghanistan.

I already send the request to different regions of Afghanistan.

Currently, I'm on standby, and I'm waiting for the phone calls.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: As he is waiting, the Afghan government makes a major announcement.

They claim that more than 600 ISIS fighters and their families have surrendered.

In an interview, the Afghan National Security advisor insists that ISIS, or Daesh, no longer poses a threat.

>> Daesh has been a threat in Afghanistan.

They committed some... a lot of brutal acts against our people.

But we are glad to report that we have managed to eliminate their sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

I can't say that their ideology is completely eliminated, but they don't have a territorial control in any part of the country anymore.

>> NARRATOR: But the next day, Najibullah gets word that an ISIS cell is willing to meet him.

He is told to head north.

♪ ♪ He flies into the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

A go-between will take him to ISIS.

>> When you go somewhere, you are in the hands of somebody else, they can do whatever they want to.

>> Why do it, then?

>> Well, it's very important to find out, because the government always denies.

Sometimes they say, "Yeah, ISIS is a big threat."

In another hand, they say, "No, ISIS is gone from Afghanistan.

I really wanted to know either they're really gone from Afghanistan, or they're really here.

This evening, basically, a guy came from inside them to take me tomorrow down there, so you're going to go with me.

He's very positive, he says don't be scared, nothing will happen.

But still, when I go there, I say, "Okay, oh God, this is... this is end of my life.

Just forgive me if I did anything wrong."

>> NARRATOR: Najibullah leaves his team behind, and heads off before dawn with the go-between.

♪ ♪ He films the journey into the Baghlan province, in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains.

He has to change cars three times, for security reasons.

Eventually, he is joined by two armed ISIS fighters.

They arrive at the rendezvous point.

♪ ♪ After an hour, figures begin to emerge from the mountains.

MAN (speaking local language): NAJIB: >> NARRATOR: The ISIS commander is eager to show off the weapons his men are using, as well as their close-combat drills.

MAN: >> NARRATOR: He claims that many of the men here are former Taliban fighters, and that in the event of a peace deal with the Americans, many more Taliban will defect to ISIS.

(men chanting) NAJIB: MAN: ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Back in Kabul, there's more news.

President Trump has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

He's announced that the peace talks with the Taliban will resume in the Gulf state of Qatar.

>> We've been wanting to make a deal, and so have the Taliban, and we're going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory.

>> Seems that peace negotiations are going to be on again, according to what he said.

I hope this time is going to be happen, some things, because all the people in Afghanistan wants peace.

>> If they make it, fine.

If they don't make it, that's fine.

♪ ♪ >> Newly released documents raise serious questions about whether the American people were lied to about the progress of the war in Afghanistan.

>> NARRATOR: The peace talks are about to resume amid revelations that U.S. officials for years have been privately conceding they've lost the war.

>> For the last 18 years, according to the government reports, senior U.S. officials have been misleading the American public about the war in Afghanistan.

>> It's a war Washington is struggling to finish, and Donald Trump says peace lies in the hands of the Taliban.

>> We're here to talk with a Taliban representative about the peace negotiations, and we are trying to find out what will happen next.

>> NARRATOR: Shortly before broadcast, Najibullah secures an exclusive interview with the Taliban's lead negotiator, Mullah Baradar.

Mullah Baradar is a very, very big person within the Taliban rank.

He was the co-founder of the Taliban, the person who has very, very close to Mullah Omar, the main leader of the Taliban who died some years ago.

He has been in prison for eight years in Pakistan and he has been released in 2018.

(speaking local language): >> NARRATOR: Najibullah presses him on how the Taliban will exercise power if the U.S. leaves Afghanistan, and whether they've moderated their hardline practices.

>> NARRATOR: His answer is ambiguous.

Women will have rights, but only according to the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

>> NARRATOR: Another looming question for the Taliban is how it will handle ISIS.

>> NARRATOR: He insists the Taliban, not the government, have been leading the fight against ISIS in Afghanistan.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: As the peace talks restart, the U.S. has asked the Taliban leadership to prove it can control its fighters on the ground by calling a ceasefire.

ISIS, meanwhile, is watching, and waiting.

>> NARRATOR: Coming up next on this special edition of FRONTLINE...

In Angola, how did the president’s daughter become one of the richest women in the world?

>> I am looking at the enablers that have helped her get money out of Angola and into the bloodstream of the global financial system.

>> Angolan authorities have embarked on a very, very selective witch hunt.

>> NARRATOR: “The Luanda Leaks" begins right now.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Paris, September 2019.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has gathered together reporters from almost 40 organizations, including "Frontline," to collaborate on a new investigation.

>> So our first two guests are the people who actually brought us the documents.

>> NARRATOR: They've been given a cache of leaked documents by a group called the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa.

The 700,000 files-- known as the Luanda Leaks-- are all related to the business interests of Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos-- contracts, loan agreements, bank transfers, invoices, emails; documents mapping the complex structure of her business empire.

"New York Times" investigative reporter Michael Forsythe is part of the collaboration... >> The story of Isabel dos Santos has been out there for a few years.

There have been these reports about potential corruption, this accumulating wealth from Angola.

But these documents, I think, really kind of connect the dots and document a lot of that.

>> NARRATOR: Isabel dos Santos is one of the world's richest women.

She has properties in Dubai, London, Lisbon; a yacht; and celebrity friends.

With interests in banking, mobile phone companies, and oil, she is reported to be worth more than $2 billion.

She has always said she's earned it on her own.

>> I think that Angola is merit driven, so whatever I have achieved there, I think it has been through merit.

I've also started working a very long time ago, so... (chuckles) Over two decades ago, and the success that I have today is not something that came overnight.

>> NARRATOR: But there's another side to her story.

She's the daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

For 38 years, he was president of Angola.

Under his rule, much of the population lived in extreme poverty while the country was widely reported to be one of the most corrupt in the world.

Tom Burgis is a reporter who's investigated the dos Santos family.

(audience applauding) >> A lot of the people around Jose Eduardo dos Santos have become immensely rich-- family members, generals, senior politicians, people who run the oil industry.

They have all used those positions for massive self-enrichment at the cost of the ordinary Angolan.

(man introducing dos Santos) >> NARRATOR: In 2017, President dos Santos stepped down.

The new Angolan government has now opened a criminal investigation into Isabel dos Santos and frozen her assets, saying that she and her husband are responsible for more than $1 billion in lost state funds.

She denies any wrongdoing and says she is being politically persecuted.

>> So all of this boils down to is Isabel what she says she is-- self-made billionaire-- or is she the creature of a kleptocratic, corrupt dictatorship?

>> NARRATOR: For more than six months, "Frontline" and the team of reporters working with the ICIJ have been examining and verifying the leaked documents, investigating how Isabel dos Santos made her money.

The story of her fortune is tied to Angola's most precious natural resource-- oil.

Sonangol is the country's state oil company.

>> Sonangol is the lifeline of Angola.

Over 90 percent of Angola's exports come from oil, Sonangol.

So it's essentially the heart that pumps blood to our vessels.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Rafael Marquez is a journalist who's been reporting on Isabel dos Santos for more than a decade.

>> Essentially the way Isabel dos Santos built her fortune was by using her father's position, and by using also Sonangol as her cash cow and private bank to finance her activities.

>> NARRATOR: In 2006, Isabel dos Santos and her husband made a lucrative deal with Sonangol.

Sonangol owned a stake in the profitable Portuguese energy company GALP and agreed to sell them 40 percent of it.

The documents reveal that the terms of the deal were highly favorable to the daughter of the president.

The price for the GALP share was 75 million euros.

But Isabel dos Santos paid just 11.2 million euros, or 15 percent, up front.

The remaining 63 million was deferred-- in effect, a loan from the state oil company.

Tom Keatinge, an expert in financial crime, has examined the ICIJ documents.

>> So, you look at any transaction and the first question you should ask yourself is why?

Why did she get a great deal from the state oil company?

Was it simply a way of transferring value to the daughter of the president?

I think it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than she has benefited from state funds.

>> NARRATOR: Isabel dos Santos's stake in GALP is now worth around $800 million.

She declined to be interviewed by the ICIJ and its partners, but shortly before broadcast she spoke to BBC News reporter Andrew Harding and defended the deal.

>> All of those transactions are perfectly legal transactions, commercial transactions that were engaged by commercial companies according to the law.

There's absolutely no wrongdoing in any of those transactions.

>> NARRATOR: She says Sonangol's investment in GALP was her idea in the first place, and it's been a windfall for Angola too.

>> This investment is the investment that in history has generated the most benefit for the national oil company.

>> NARRATOR: More than a decade later, dos Santos and the new Angolan government are fighting over the terms of repaying the loan she was extended.

But the deal remains emblematic of how she has used her position and public money to amass her fortune.

>> It's one of the clearest examples of the interests of the state blurring with her own interests.

And that is the opposite of the narrative she wants to put forward about herself.

>> NARRATOR: In the years that followed, the documents show how Isabel dos Santos and her husband set up a network of companies in tax and secrecy havens for their growing wealth.

Then they made a major move into another of Angola's most lucrative industries: diamonds.

(fireworks crackling) As with the oil deal, they used public money to do so.

In 2012, dos Santos's husband, Sindika Dokolo, partnered with the state-run diamond company Sodiam.

Together they bought the luxury Swiss jeweler de Grisogono.

♪ ♪ It was structured as a 50-50 partnership with Sodiam.

But the documents show that by mid-2013, while Sodiam had paid $79.5 million, Sindika Dokolo's company initially had only put in $4 million, and he'd gotten that from state-owned Sodiam as a "success fee" for brokering the deal.

>> So the state ends up funding an opportunity for Isabel dos Santos and her husband to make an acquisition from which they obviously will benefit.

It's a classic example of somebody close to, in this case, the daughter of the president being able to use that relationship to benefit themselves.

>> NARRATOR: The documents reveal a further twist.

In order to finance the deal, Sodiam had to borrow the money.

It got it at nine percent interest from a bank partly owned by Isabel dos Santos.

And the president himself signed a decree guaranteeing that the government would pay back his daughter's bank if Sodiam couldn't.

Andrew Feinstein investigates corruption cases for a British advocacy group.

>> In effect what is happening here is that the president of a country is guaranteeing a loan to his own daughter's bank in order for the daughter's husband to gain a very lucrative stake in a Swiss-owned jewelry company.

>> NARRATOR: The documents also show that the deal gave Sindika Dokolo control of the company.

Under his watch, de Grisogono hosted and paid for lavish celebrity parties at the Cannes Film Festival.

>> Let us not forget that the money being used is money that belongs to the people of Angola.

The majority of those people live in abject poverty.

>> NARRATOR: Through his lawyers, Sindika Dokolo defended the deal and said the parties were a longstanding marketing practice to promote the luxury brand.

He also said he went on to invest $115 million of his own money into the company.

For her part, Isabel dos Santos says she had no role in de Grisogono.

>> Well, I'm not a shareholder in de Grisogono.

I've said that many times, and I'll repeat that again, I'm not a shareholder in de Grisogono.

And so any matters on that I would not be able to answer simply by the simple fact that I'm not a shareholder.

>> NARRATOR: But the documents do show she had personal ties to the company.

These bank forms list her as an economic beneficiary, and an owner of the holding company that controls de Grisogono.

♪ ♪ The diamond deal is now at the heart of the Angolan government's investigation into Isabel dos Santos.

The current head of Sodiam says the deal has been a disaster for the Angolan people.

MAN (speaking Portuguese): ♪ ♪ >> Okay, and if there's a way if he's not there, is there anyone I can leave a message with or a voicemail or something like that for him?

>> NARRATOR: As part of the ICIJ collaboration, "New York Times" reporter Michael Forsythe has come to Portugal's capital Lisbon to investigate the role American companies have played in Isabel dos Santos's ventures.

>> I'm looking at the enablers-- basically the international group of very respectable companies, accountants, consultants, and law firms and banks that have helped her set up companies around the world to, to facilitate all her transactions, to get money out of Angola and into the, the bloodstream of the global financial system.

It's American companies that are legitimizing the rise in wealth, you know, of this person, Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the long-time president, making her richer and using Angolan state money to do it.

>> NARRATOR: When Sindika Dokolo first bought in to de Grisogono, it was in financial trouble.

♪ ♪ This letter, and organizational chart, reveal that he hired the U.S. management firm Boston Consulting Group to help turn it around.

>> We know from the documents that many banks were... stayed away from her, the international banks, because there are very strict anti-corruption rules, and they have, you know, lots of compliance officers.

And we see from the emails that they were reluctant to do business with her, but Boston Consulting Group was not.

Why did they agree to work with this person, Isabel dos Santos?

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: In fact some of the consultants went on to leave BCG and become the jewelry company's top executives.

One of them, now based in Lisbon, has agreed to meet Forsythe off camera.

But it doesn't go well.

>> When I told him that I wanted to talk about de Grisogono, the jewelry company, and Isabel dos Santos, he froze up.

He said, "I have a confidentiality agreement.

I don't like to talk about that."

He was clear that he was quite scared, I thought.

And he got up very quickly though, and said, "Sorry, I can't talk to you," and left right away.

Um, well, that's not the best outcome for an interview, obviously.

It did give me the impression of how sensitive this issue is.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Back in the United States, Forsythe gets an official response from Boston Consulting Group.

They say they only worked with de Grisogono for a short time, on three specific projects.

>> So, they're downplaying their role.

But since then I've had a chance to talk to some of the ex-Boston consulting group people.

You know one of the guys I talked to said "Yeah, basically it's called shadow management", is the term he used.

That we're going in and kind of pulling the strings I guess getting this company back in order.

>> NARRATOR: BCG says it took steps "to ensure compliance with established policies and avoid corruption and other risks."

But consulting firms aren't bound by the same strict regulations as banks concerning the political backgrounds of their clients and the provenance of their money.

>> Companies like BCG in this case are providing a veneer of respectability that makes what's happening acceptable or more acceptable than it might otherwise be.

>> NARRATOR: BCG wasn't the only western company involved in the dos Santos business empire.

One big accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has played a major role.

They had an inside view of the de Grisogono diamond deal: they were responsible for auditing the millions of dollars going in and out of the company.

The documents show how PwC was aware there was no paperwork for some of that money; and that there were other accounting irregularities.

♪ ♪ >> So if I was at PwC, I'd be conducting a pretty thorough audit of what decisions were made, and in hindsight actually did we make the wrong decision to accept this business and should we have reported what we had been presented with?

>> NARRATOR: PwC said it is investigating the "serious and concerning allegations" and has terminated all work with the dos Santos family.

PwC's global chairman says employees may be fired.

♪ ♪ In 2013, one year after the diamond deal, Isabel dos Santos moved to extend her business empire with a major land development project in her home country.

As part of the ICIJ collaboration, Portuguese journalist Micael Pereira has come to Angola to investigate the deal.

>> So there will be a boulevard here.

And beyond the boulevard there will be really beautiful buildings and gardens, luxury residences that are... that were conceived by a company of Isabel dos Santos together with foreign companies.

>> NARRATOR: The Angolan government would award contracts for the project to two companies owned by Isabel dos Santos.

The plans were authorized by her father.

These letters, contracts, and emails show her companies stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars.

In her BBC interview, she said the project included new roads to alleviate chronic traffic in the capital city.

>> This is a project that would have made a difference to, to Luanda, but most of all, this is a solution that we proposed because it's a solution that in terms of cost and return and benefits to the city of Luanda and to the people of Luanda, it has very high social benefits.

>> NARRATOR: But the land, long the site of other development plans, had people living on it.

Weeks after the president approved his daughter's plan, the residents were evicted.

(speaking Portuguese): >> NARRATOR: Around 500 families settled on this strip across from their former homes.

>> I've never been in-in a place like this.

This is shocking.

These people live among all this, this garbage.

They build their houses where they could.

They live basically between two sewage systems in the open air.

>> NARRATOR: The residents say cholera, TB, and malaria are rife.

(people shouting, whistle blowing) WOMAN (speaking Portuguese): >> NARRATOR: Fatima and her children live here with four other families.

>> NARRATOR: Isabel dos Santos and her lawyers say her plan was designed to avoid any evictions, using "reclaimed land from the sea."

But the documents contain maps that show her development covered the area where the evicted families used to live.

The new Angolan government would ultimately remove Isabel dos Santos from the project.

The development remains unbuilt.

Around the same time as the land deal, Angola's oil industry was in trouble.

Prices were falling and there were management issues at Sonangol.

To fix the problems, the president turned to his daughter.

Her lawyers helped draft a presidential decree establishing a commission to restructure Sonangol.

Then, one of her offshore companies was hired to do the work.

>> So here is a transaction in which the company owned by the daughter of the president wins the contract to restructure Sonangol, the most important state-owned company in Angola.

You've got to ask yourself the question, why would Sonangol employ a company paid through Malta-- which is an offshore jurisdiction, very opaque, very problematic-- to provide advice and services to it?

>> NARRATOR: The documents show that dos Santos's company would be paid 8.5 million euros for its work.

The company kept a lot of that money, though it subcontracted to consultants like BCG to help with the Sonangol restructuring.

Through her lawyers, Isabel dos Santos said the government chose her company because "she is one of very few Angolans with substantial international business experience."

♪ ♪ Her involvement in Sonangol would soon go much deeper.

In June 2016, as the company was being restructured, President dos Santos fired Sonangol's board and put his daughter in charge.

>> We need to understand here that President dos Santos passed a presidential decree.

He, as the supreme law in the land, passes a law to make her the head of Sonangol, the state oil company.

It is a blatant and brazen move, using his almost total political power to benefit himself and his family.

>> NARRATOR: Again, Isabel dos Santos rejects such criticism.

>> Your father put you in that position... >> It wasn't my father, it was the government, but anyway... (chuckling): We can go through that.

It was the commission... >> It's the time when your father was president.

>> ...it was commission of-- I was invited to head Sonangol by the commission of oil and gas restructuring.

I worked for them as a consultant, that then, after I had finished my consultancy work, invited me and said would I consider the position to become Sonangol's chairperson.

>> NARRATOR: Her role as chairperson wouldn't last long.

By September 2017, everything was changing for the dos Santos family.

Her father was now out of power, and the new president was launching an anti-corruption drive.

Within weeks, he sacked Isabel dos Santos as the head of Sonangol.

The new government would soon open a criminal investigation into millions of dollars in payments made in her last hours at Sonangol.

The money was sent to a company here in Dubai called Matter Business Solutions.

♪ ♪ The documents show that Matter was a consulting company that Isabel dos Santos's long-time business manager helped run, and that it's sole shareholder was a friend named Paula Oliveira.

>> There is clearly a relationship between Isabel dos Santos and the company we are talking about, and indeed the owner of that company who is a friend of Isabel dos Santos, so is it a legal relationship?

No.

Is there a relationship in the way that most people would consider a relationship to be?

Absolutely.

>> NARRATOR: Matter sent a stream of invoices to Sonangol.

Some had little detail about what the bills were for.

This one says "Support the chairman in communications"-- 384,000 euros.

And this one for "unspecified expenses"-- 472,000 euros.

The payment orders bear Isabel dos Santos's signature.

One of them, for $38 million, was on the day she was ousted.

The next day, a total of $57.8 million was withdrawn from one of Sonangol's bank accounts and sent to Matter.

Both Oliveira and dos Santos insist Matter was an independent and legitimate firm, not a dos Santos proxy, that was owed money for substantial work it did for Sonangol.

Oliveira's lawyers say she sent the invoices when she learned dos Santos was being fired.

In her interview with the BBC, dos Santos stressed that the payments were to settle outstanding bills.

>> All the services rendered under the contract are known services and they were delivered and rendered, and all the invoices are invoices that are connected to services rendered.

The contract is a contract that was well-known to the Angolan government authorities.

They knew... everybody that worked on the project, they met with them on a regular basis.

>> We've received copies of these invoices for the 57 million and I wondered if I could show you some of them and ask you to explain, um... >> Well, I will not be familiar with the invoices themselves.

>> Here, for instance, 472,000 euros, um, and there's no explanation for what these expenses are... >> Well, I will not be familiar with the... >> But you signed off on these.

>> Well, the way Sonangol works... >> And again, if I can... >> This is good that you... >> Two here, almost identical, for 676, and then again for 676,000.

>> Yeah.

>> And, again, very vague... accounting here.

>> Are you sure, are you sure that there are no more documents that should be supplied to you and they're probably not in here, because it looks to me... >> There are many more, there are many more.

>> Well, that's what I'm saying, that's why it looks to me... >> And the concern is that this fits in with the explanation or the allegation from the Angolan authorities that essentially the funds were being looted at the last minute.

>> Of course they were not, of course not, that doesn't, that doesn't make any sense.

>> NARRATOR: Dos Santos left Angola as the criminal investigation of her was getting underway.

♪ ♪ Authorities there say they want her back.

MAN (speaking Portuguese): >> NARRATOR: In late December, after ICIJ reporters submitted questions, the Angolan government froze the assets of dos Santos and her husband.

Angolan authorities are now going through the many years of dos Santos's deals.

They say they are being helped by the U.S., U.K., Portugal, and others.

According to the new president, Isabel dos Santos and Sindika Dokolo could face prison time.

The couple insists that the investigations and leaked documents are all part of a coordinated political attack.

>> Angolan authorities have embarked on a very, very selective witch hunt.

A very selective witch hunt that suits the purpose of saying that there is two or three people that are related to the family, or a family of President dos Santos.

Now, look, I regret that Angola has chosen this path, I think that we all stand a lot to lose.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: For many Angolans, this is a watershed moment.

>> Isabel dos Santos has billions of dollars.

It's only a matter of time before the Angolan state comes in full force to reclaim what belongs to the Angolan people.

We need that money to get to a new place.

We need those resources to change the way we think about what a government is for, what ruling is about, and how to serve the country and the and the people.

(people talking indistinctly) >> Go to pbs.org/frontline for the latest developments in the Luanda Leaks investigation and more of our exclusive interview with the Taliban negotiator.

>> We want to do the interviews very fast because of the drone.

>> And read about how correspondent Najibullah Quraishi reported in Afghanistan.

>> I’ve been covering the war in Afghanistan for about 18 years.

>> Connect to the FRONTLINE community on Facebook and Twitter and watch anytime on the PBS Video App or pbs.org/frontline.

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