- By Patrick Jackson
- BBC News
photo credit, AFP
Theodore Nguema – Obiang Mangue (Official Video)
For years, Teodoro “Teodorin” Nguema Obiang Mangue’s fortune has mirrored that of his country, Equatorial Guinea, which has become one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest oil producers.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s son led a luxurious life in California and France.
His good times abroad contrasted sharply with the lives of most of his fellow citizens, who benefited little from the consequences of oil revenues.
Today, his lifestyle funding has been exposed as embezzlement, and Teodorin faces a criminal conviction in France, sanctions in the UK and a criminal record for corruption in the US.
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But at home, the 52-year-old remains vice president, in pole position to succeed his 79-year-old father.
‘Embezzlement and extortion in progress‘
Teodorin lived in California in 1991 when he enrolled at Pepperdine University in Malibu.
He ended up buying a $30 million Malibu mansion and his other US possessions included a Ferrari car and Michael Jackson memorabilia.
This case came to a head in 2014, when the US Department of Justice forced him to return these assets as part of an out-of-court settlement, after discovering he had paid for them as part of a “corruption-fueled spending spree”. .
“Through relentless embezzlement and extortion, Vice President Nguema Obiang blatantly looted his government and sank his country’s businesses to finance his lavish lifestyle, while many of his fellow citizens lived in extreme poverty,” the assistant attorney general said. Caldwell in a statement.
The money from the sale of the assets was to “be used for the benefit of the people of Equatorial Guinea”.
‘Pread a refuge for ill-gotten gains‘
In 2016, Swiss prosecutors seized 11 luxury cars belonging to him. The cars – including a Bugatti, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Rolls Royces – were auctioned for around $27 million.
photo credit, AFP
Sports cars of the vice president of Equatorial Guinea were auctioned in Switzerland
About US$ 23 million would be earmarked for social projects in Equatorial Guinea.
Then, in 2017, it was France’s turn to crack down on Teodorin when a court convicted him of embezzlement and ordered the seizure of his assets in the country.
He was sentenced to three years in prison suspended in absentia and fined €30 million, and his luxury goods in France were seized. One of his foreclosed properties in Paris is worth over $120 million.
According to a French law, all this wealth must be redistributed to the people of Equatorial Guinea.
The decision was upheld by the highest court of appeal, which rejected his claims of innocence and his argument that French courts did not have the right to adjudicate on his assets.
“With this decision […] France is no longer a haven for money embezzled by high-ranking foreign leaders and their entourage,” Patrick Lefas of Transparency International France, which participated in the case, said in a statement.
Finally, last week, the UK imposed “anti-corruption” sanctions on Teodorin and four other senior figures from Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Iraq.
photo credit, Getty Images
Michael Jackson’s “Bad” tour glove was auctioned in Beverly Hills, California in 2010.
The UK said its Michael Jackson memorabilia collection includes a $275,000 crystal-covered glove that the singer wore on his Bad tour in the 1980s.
Under the sanctions, the UK will impose an asset freeze and travel ban to prevent nominees from transferring money through UK banks or entering the country.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the new sanctions were aimed at people who “lined their pockets at the expense of their citizens”.
A warning to others
Despite his legal problems abroad, Teodorin maintains his place at the top of Equatorial Guinea’s political establishment.
His father is Africa’s longest-serving ruler and has been described by human rights organizations as one of the continent’s most brutal dictators.
Although the president himself is the key figure, his son is “relatively known as a personality in Central and West Africa, given the international media coverage he has received,” says Africa analyst Paul Melly.
“The measures that have been taken by the judicial authorities of some European countries against the alleged corruption of certain African presidential families are a sign of the risk of potential damage to the credibility and access to development funds that certain regimes may be confronted with”, he added. he added.
“But these cases are anything but typical of sub-Saharan Africa today.”