Portugal police: Banker in Angola scandal hangs himself

A Portuguese banker named in a major Angolan money-laundering and corruption scandal has died in apparent suicide at home, police said Thursday.

Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha, named as a suspect by Angolan authorities in an investigation targeting the billionaire daughter of Angola's former longtime leader, appeared to have hanged himself in the garage of his Lisbon apartment building late Wednesday, a police statement said.

Cunha was the head of private banking at Lisbon-based EuroBic where Isabel dos Santos, reputedly Africa's richest woman, holds a 42.5 per cent stake.

Angolan authorities suspect Dos Santos embezzled money from the country's state oil company and laundered it through foreign banks.