MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Questions about Miss Universe registry papers and complaints from Miss France

Miss Ukraine, Olesia Stefanko, and Miss Angola hold hands

It has been a news-headlines plagued Miss Universe pageant, both before and after, that finally crowned beauty queen Leila Lopes, Angola’s first in Sao Paulo.

To start with: it was Colombia’s Catalina Robayo and her alleged amnesia to wear panties, then Miss Australia’ ‘see-through dress’, plus the Brazilian made bikinis (that can be watched at any Rio beach) but were considered too exuberant and exposing for the judges.

Then came along Miss France’s comments: Miss Laury Thileman believes Leila should not be wearing the crown and gave her reasons in an interview with the magazine Premiere.

Her complaints started saying Miss Angloa was not sociable. “She was the only girl I didn’t know very well. We didn’t see her much.” Then she criticized her looks. “She was often in jeans and not wearing makeup. We were all surprised by her win”.

And how come she won? Miss France believes that the main reason is that the contest was held in Brazil. “The fact that the competition was held in Brazil surely played a role; Miss Brazil was three and Angola (also a former Portuguese colony) is also linked to Brazil”.

Nevertheless Laury was satisfied. She was chosen among the top ten: “I still placed before Miss Venezuela and Miss Puerto Rico, who have been redone from head to toe”, she said, “I remained natural”.

But Leila's victory now faces serious questioning following allegations that false documents were used to help her get into an earlier pageant, where a win effectively put her into the main competition, reports the British press.

A man called Charles Mukano allegedly helped the 25-year-old get to the Miss Angola UK pageant, which only includes Angolan women living in Britain - despite her reportedly living in Angola.

Mr Mukano was reported by an Argentine news source to be the organizer of the pageant that crowned her Miss Angola in her home country. However Miss Universe officials told AOL Latino they have never even heard of Mr Mukano and the organizer who ran the Miss Angola pageant is actually called Renato Guttler.

But Argentine news outlet Infobae reported Mr Mukano allegedly obtained false documents to say Lopes is a business student in Britain - and he had been questioned before about other documents.

Leila Lopes has not yet commented on the allegations. The Miss Universe Organization also told AOL Latino it denies other circulating rumors that Ms Lopes has Cuban parents and speaks Spanish.

The UK business student, 1.79 tall, from Angola’s seaside city of Beguela, dazzled the panel of judges at the pageant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with both her beauty and brains.

When she had been asked earlier what she might change about her physical characteristics, Leila replied that she was satisfied with who she was.

'I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty,' she told the judges and the audience. I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family, and I plan to follow those through the rest of my life.'

Her down-to-earth nature was complemented with immense outer beauty too though, which she showed off in a bright yellow bikini during the swimsuit parade.

After displaying her bikini body to millions of fans watching the pageant on TV around the world, Lopes paraded around the stage with poise in a form-fitting gold and silver sequined evening gown.

Miss Angola finally beat 88 competitors in the 60th annual Miss Universe pageant.

Finalists accompanying Lopes into the top five were Miss Ukraine Olesia Stefanko, Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup, Miss China Luo Zilin and Miss Brazil Priscila Machado.

While the other countries that made the top ten were Miss Australia Scherri-lee Biggs, Miss Costa Rica Johanna Solano, Miss France Laury Thilleman, Miss Portugal Laura Goncalves and Miss Panama Sheldry Saez.

As well as competing in categories ranging from swimsuits to evening gowns, the women also had to answer the critical question that tells the judges a bit about them.

In fan voting, Ms Lopes tallied only a 3.6 score for the swimsuit but earned a 7.2 for her evening gown. Fan voting, however, did not count in the final tallies from nine judges.