Vice- president’s supercar seizure

Surely Equatorial Guinea’s Vice- President, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, should be far too busy tending to the needs of his country’s citizens to be supercar shopping.

But in a ( frankly not- at- allshocking ) twist, the son of dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has just had more than US$ 8 million ($ 10.9m) worth of exclusive metal seized by police in Geneva.

Since the mid- 1990s, the small Central African country of Equatorial Guinea has been one of the continent’s largest oil suppliers. Unfortunately for most of the population — who continue to live in poverty — this government- level wealth doesn’t appear to trickle down far.

When there are limited edition supercars from the likes of Koenigsegg and Ferrari to collect, schools and hospitals seem to lose their appeal.

The police raid — part of an anti- corruption investigation — netted an eyewatering collection of rare cars, including a Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Veneno Roadster ( chassis number seven of nine) and a Koenigsegg Obiang Mangue’s car collection is taken away. One: 1, one of only seven examples built.

It isn’t the first time Obiang Mangue has had supercars seized by police. In 2011 the rozzers made off with a Maserati MC12, Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo and 599 GTO, another two Bugatti Veyrons, a Maybach and a Rolls- Royce Phantom.

Interestingly, this investigation into President Obiang and his son was triggered when a Twitterbot called GVA Dictator Alert (@ GVA_ Watcher), which tracks planes used by authoritarian regimes landing at Geneva Airport, recorded eight separate visits by Equatorial Guinea- registered aircraft in a short space of time.