£100m of Guinea ‘kleptocrat’s’ assets ordered to be seized

A FRENCH court yesterday convicted Equatorial Guinea’s vice-president of corruption and ordered the confiscation of his Paris mansion and other assets, including a fleet of luxury cars, worth about £100million.

Teodorin Obiang, 48, whose father has been president of the oil-rich west African country for 38 years, was given a three-year suspended prison sentence as well as a £26 million fine, suspended for three years.

It was the first of several expected trials arising from eight years of investigations into French assets held by the ruling families of Equatorial Guinea as well as Gabon and Congo-brazzaville.

William Bourdon, a lawyer for Transparency International, a campaign group that helped bring an “illgotten gains” lawsuit to court, said the verdict was “historic”, adding: “It is the beginning of the end for this rule of impunity and immunity that these kleptocrats imagined was eternal.”

Emmanuel Marsigny, Obiang’s lawyer, said the verdict was “political” and his client was considering an appeal.