Warren Hastings by Thomas Babington Macaulay
PARIS JOURNAL; A French change on Africa Strips a son of his dictator Taho.
But police seized the property this month after taking 2 million wine collection earlier this year as part of an investigation into corruption involving the father of Mr. Obiang Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West poor but oil-rich African state.
PARIS - For years, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue seemed to lead a charmed life, visit its five floors PIED- Wander here on the chic Avenue Foch two or three times a year, choosing among 11 supercars, order Conti bottles Roman and Burgundies watch movies in the home theater.
But police seized the property this month after taking 2 million wine collection earlier this year as part of an investigation into corruption involving the father of Mr. Obiang Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny West poor but oil-rich African state.
Known in France as the case of ill-gotten gains, it was brought in 2007 by two non-governmental organizations and an association of Congolese citizens abroad, they filed a criminal complaint accusing M. Obiang and two other heads of state African Omar Bongo of Gabon and Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, of embezzling money from the state to buy properties in France illegally.
We didn t wish to target the Obiang clan in particular, said William Bourdon, a lawyer who heads one of the groups that brought the suit, Sherpa defending victims of economic crimes, but the looting of public funds is the suit was pretty spectacular joined by an organization that opposes survival neocolonialism and F ration Congolese diaspora.
Building 42 Avenue Foch is considered a value up to 180 million; it was purchased by the younger M. Obiang, the eldest son of the president, but in 2011 sold to the State of Equatorial Guinea The building has 101 rooms, a Turkish bath, a hair salon, two gyms, a nightclub and a cinema.
The mansion was described in the newspaper Le Parisien as a decorated treasure with furniture worth as much as 50 million, including a bathroom with televisions and accessories gold and encrusted with jewels and dinner tables always ready to welcome unexpected guests.
In September, French police seized 11 luxury cars belonging to the son of M. Obiang, including two Bugatti Veyron, one of the most powerful and expensive cars in the world; Maybach; Aston Martin; Enzo Ferrari; a Ferrari 599 GTO; a Rolls-Royce; and a Maserati MC12.
We would never see the Obiang, said a neighbor who would not give his name, but I was struck by their incredible collection of cars.
This year, police officers confiscated roomfuls of expensive products, including bottles of Ch P to us, among the most expensive wines in the world, and 3 clock 7 million.
According to the newspaper Le Monde of the art collection Obiang included here Degas and five works of Rodin.
In 2009, Somagui Forestal, the logging company owned by the son of M. Obiang - who was also Minister of Agriculture and Forestry at the time - bought 109 lots over 22 million at the auction of private art collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg lots, which decorated the house Paris, included a 16th century gilt elephant Christoph Ritter II.
In addition to the investigation of M. Obiang, French judges have issued an international arrest warrant for his son in July, accusing him of abuse of public funds and corporate funds, breach of trust and money laundering, the proceeds were used to buy french property M. Obiang recently named his second son Vice President of Equatorial Guinea in order to provide diplomatic immunity in a similar move last year, shortly after the car entry, M. Obiang appointed his son a permanent delegate to Unesco after months of debate and hand wringing Unesco, a science prize sponsored by Equatorial Guinea received in July.
The country itself, a small former Spanish colony of about 720,000 people, has become very rich with a per capita income of the 1990s, after the discovery of oil, when the exchange differences are recognized, over 50 000 compared 43800 in the United States, but little of that has trickled the reason, Western governments and non-governmental organizations say is rampant corruption, much to the benefit of M. Obiang, his family and allies.
The younger M. Obiang, 41, is known for his extravagant life and his taste for women, yachts and luxury cars the Paris Match magazine recently described as a frustrated singer who founded several years ago NWT Entertainment, a hip-hop label derived from his initial time, he recorded an album under the name of Teddy Bear.
Emmanuel Marsigny, the young lawyer of Mr. Obiang denies the charges against M. Obiang He received money under the laws of Equatorial Guinea said Mr. Marsigny even if those gift t meet international standards.
An effort to cancel the entry of M. Obiang Paris property because of its recently acquired formal titles was rejected by a French court in March.
The younger M. Obiang is also facing civil forfeiture complaints in the US While his people struggled, he lived the high life, buying a Gulfstream jet, a Malibu mansion and nearly 2 million in memory of Michael Jackson, a Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general, said in a statement in October in June, the Justice Department said the younger M. Obiang had spent 315 million on properties and luxury goods 2004-2011.
M. Marsigny said the French inquiry against the Obiang clan was an attempt to divert the existing legal framework and the economic situation in Equatorial Guinea had brightened, with the country now enjoying double-digit growth.
Mr. Bourdon Sherpa said the investigation in France against the three presidents have recently led to police searches of French properties M. Bongo and Sassou-Nguesso The Lib tion newspaper reported that M. Bongo had 33 properties in Paris 70 French bank accounts and nine luxury cars worth nearly 2 million, and Sassou-Nguesso had 16 French properties and 111 bank accounts.
France, which maintains military and economic interests in its former African colonies, has long been a haven for corrupt African heads of state, which in the past have been a major source of campaign financing.
The ongoing investigation, M. Bourdon said, is the result of the recent efforts of France to break with the traditional system, often referred to as Fran AMERICA.
France's newly elected president, Hollande Fran said last year in a campaign speech that France repudiate toxic air Fran AMERICA, Nicolas Sarkozy, president at the time, said he would also be in an interview this year the French diplomatic magazine Politique Internationale, M. Sarkozy called for a balanced relationship, uninhibited and transparent with Africa, but there have also been persistent reports of continued illegal campaign financing by African states and leaders, all denied.
The seizure of property of M. Obiang this month is a blow, said Mr. Bourdon, against a culture of impunity that we thought would last forever.
PHOTOS Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, in January above, some of the 11 luxury cars belonging to M. Obiang that French police seized in September PHOTOGRAPHS BY ABDELHAK SENNA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE - GETTY IMAGES ; ALEX SMOLIK.
JOURNAL PARIS A French change on Africa Strips Son of his Taho of a dictator, paris, newspaper, French, shift.