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| Vice-president Obiang is a collector of Michael Jackson memorabilia and luxury cars |
French authorities Monday charged in absentia Equatorial Guinea's flamboyant vice-president for alleged corruption after he failed to stop the landmark case.
Teodorin Obiang Nguema is accused of buying a mansion and sports cars in France with a fortune amassed from oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea's public funds
Obiang, who serves as vice president is the eldest son of Equatorial Guinea’s president , is accused of buying palatial Parisian properties and exotic cars with money plundered from his native country, a small oil-rich state on Africa’s west coast.
Obiang has denied the charges of laundering embezzled public funds, which expose him to a sentence of 10 years in jail and huge fines if convicted, NAN reports.
The case is the first of several to reach court in a broader judicial investigation into allegations of illicit acquisitions in France by long-time leaders and family relatives in several African countries including Gabon and Congo Republic.
Obiang stayed away but his lawyer requested that the trial be suspended on the grounds that his client had not been given enough time to properly prepare his defence in a complex case, having been summoned to trial just three weeks ago.
“We’re not talking about a moped theft charge,” Emmanuel Marsigny, his lawyer in Paris, told Reuters.
Among the acquisitions at the centre of the trial is a large property bought for 25 million euros in 2005 on Paris’s upmarket Avenue Foch, with gymnasium, hammam steam room, hair-dressing studio and a discotheque with cinema screen.
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| Mr Obiang's mansion is located in a upmarket area in Paris |
In addition to luxury clothing and jewels, prosecutors say Obiang, 48, built up an exceptional collection of costly cars, which along with clothes, jewels and real estate took the value of all his assets to around 100 million euros ($105 million).
Obiang says his purchases were above-board.
But prosecutors say the assets do not tally with his salary at the time of the purchases. According to a parallel U.S. inquiry, he earned $80,000 a year as farming and forestry minister, a post that obliged him to refrain from other business dealings.
Beyond Obiang’s case, the broader French probe known as the “ill-gotten assets” investigation concerns purchases in France by the family of Gabon leader Ali Bongo as well as Congo Republic leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Those two strands of inquiry, police say, concern more than 60 properties in Paris and 200 bank accounts.
The court said when it opened proceedings that it would decide on Wednesday whether the trial slated to end by mid-January would go ahead as planned or be suspended in response to the request from Obiang’s lawyer.
Malibu mansion
The West African state's government launched a bid at the International Court of Justice to prevent the trial from going ahead, arguing Mr Obiang had diplomatic immunity.
The United Nations' court turned down the request last month.
In November, Swiss authorities seized 11 cars belonging to Mr Obiang, accusing him of money-laundering.
Among them was reportedly a Porsche valued at more than $830,000 and a Bugatti Veyron which sells for $2m.
AFP
In 2014, Mr Obiang agreed to surrender a Malibu mansion, a Ferrari and Michael Jackson memorabilia as part of a settlement with US authorities.
The US had filed claims against his US-based assets worth more than $70m, alleging they were proceeds of corruption.
Equatorial Guinea, a small country on the west coast of Africa, struck oil in 1995 but most of its population still lives in poverty.
Its President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, is Africa's longest serving leader.
He seized power in 1979, and promoted his son to the post of vice-president in 2012.
Mr Obiang has always said that "he earned the money legally in his country," Mr Marsigny told AFP.
Additional reports from BBC
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