French judges want Obiang arrested

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. French judges are seeking an international arrest warrant for the president's son, Teodorin Obiang.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. French judges are seeking an international arrest warrant for the president's son, Teodorin Obiang.

Published Mar 27, 2012

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Paris - Two French judges sought an international arrest warrant for the son of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on money laundering charges, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

The two judges, Roger Le Loire and Rene Grouman, consider there are grounds to suspect that Teodorin Obiang, who is agriculture minister in the small oil-rich central African country, acquired real estate in France by fraud.

The Equatorial Guinea government was not immediately available for comment.

Teodorin is frequently seen enjoying an extravagant lifestyle abroad with multi-million dollar mansions, jets and yachts.

Billboards in the capital Malabo seek to show him at work and in touch with the people, but diplomats and analysts cite his playboy lifestyle coupled with an uneasy relationship with elders in the tight power circles as causes for concern.

The French judges, who have been handling the case since 2010, on the basis of “concealment of embezzled public funds”, suspect that the properties were purchased with public money from Equatorial Guinea.

As part of the investigation, French police raided a building belonging to Equatorial Guinea in a wealthy area of Paris in February. After three days they removed art works and fine wines worth several million euros.

The building was valued at about 150 million euros and investigators say it housed a nightclub and hairdressers, suggesting it was not being used as a diplomatic residence.

Anti-corruption organisation Transparency International had filed the original legal complaint against Teodorin Obiang.

On March 1, Teodorin filed for defamation against Daniel Lebegue, the president of the French arm of Transparency denying he had embezzled funds.

President Teodoro Obiang has ruled the former Spanish colony for more than three decades, the longest serving African leader after the demise of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, with rights groups labelling his regime one of the world's most corrupt.

The country produces about 240,000 barrels of oil per day.

In January, Teodorin asked a U.S. court to dismiss attempts by the Obama administration to seize some $71 million worth of his assets, denying charges that they were obtained with allegedly corrupt funds taken from his country.

He argued he had not violated U.S. or Equatorial Guinea law and called the corruption allegations “character assassination” against him and his country.

Equatorial Guinea in October said it wanted to appoint Teodorin as its Deputy Permanent Delegate at UN Cultural agency UNESCO in Paris, a position that would give him diplomatic immunity in France. Until now the agency has not received any official documentation to proceed further with that request. - Reuters

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