French officials interrupt African leaders’ luxury

The son of Equatorial Guinea’s president will face trial in France for corruption charges, the office of the financial prosecutor said Wednesday. Teodorin Obiang’s trial is the first in a larger investigation of some African leaders’ misusing public funds for personal purchases in France.

Anti-corruption group Transparency International and a French law firm, Sherpa, first started the investigations in 2007. Obiang, appointed earlier this year as the vice president of the central African country, will face charges for embezzlement, abuse of corporate assets, breach of trust, and corruption committed by a high official.

In a joint statement, the two groups said they “welcome this critical step which is a strong message in the fight against impunity and grand corruption internationally.”

In 2012, French magistrates ordered the seizure of Obiang’s Paris mansion, reportedly worth more than $110 million, as part of the investigation. Police uncovered a clock estimated to cost 3 million euros and wines worth thousands of euros per bottle, among other assets.

Obiang appealed last year for the charges to be dropped on the basis of diplomatic immunity. But the Court of Cassation in France ruled the charges related to his private life in France and not to his official duties. Equatorial Guinea authorities also appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to end the investigation, saying France violated its sovereignty.

“In Sherpa’s view, this action is another delaying tactic to hinder the judicial investigation,” Sherpa said in a statement. “If France were to consent to ICJ jurisdiction in this case, there is no doubt that the ICJ would reject Equatorial Guinea’s unfounded request since French courts are fully competent to deal with criminal offenses presumably committed on French soil.”

Obiang’s financial misconduct goes beyond France. In 2014, he agreed to relinquish more than $30 million worth of assets in the United States to avoid corruption charges. The U.S. Department of Justice lists some of the assets as a $30 million mansion in Malibu, Calif., and a Ferrari, among others.

The larger French investigation involves the families of Gabon’s late President Omar Bongo and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassaou Nguesso. The leaders face accusations of wrongfully owning 63 luxury properties in Paris and about 200 bank accounts. The presidents denied the accusations, and Nguesso asked the French courts to stay out of his country’s internal affairs.