The Equatorial Guinean Vice President recently accused France of illegally selling “patrimonial assets” from Equatorial Guinea, after French Justice convicted him of money laundering and confiscated, in 2021, the wealth accumulated in that country.
France has sold Equatorial Guinea State assets valued at 10 million euros, said Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of the country's President, Teodoro Obiang.
"I was informed that the State Attorney General made an order in which he denounces the French Justice for the illegal sale of heritage assets in Equatorial Guinea and urges our Government to recover the amounts", wrote the Vice President, also known as " Teodorin”.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang added that Equatorial Guinea, "through the Treasury, will start the process of recovering these funds, through French companies residing in the country".
The Supreme Court of France confirmed, in 2021, a suspended sentence of three years in prison for Teodorín, for money laundering, as well as a fine of 30 million euros and the confiscation of the assets he accumulated in that country, between 1997 and 2011, including a 3,000-square-meter palace that served as the diplomatic delegation of Equatorial Guinea.
Although Equatorial Guinea had filed a lawsuit to have ownership of that building, located on Avenida Foch – one of the most exclusive in the French capital – be recognized, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected it last June. The judges considered that the building is not property of the State of Equatorial Guinea, but the personal property of the Vice-President and son of the Head of State.
