President’s son wanted on money laundering charges

AN INTERNATIONAL arrest warrant is being sought for the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president Teodoro Obiang Nguema on money laundering charges.

Two French judges, Roger Le Loire and Rene Grouman, consider there are grounds to suspect that Teodorin, who is agriculture minister in the small oil-rich central African country, acquired property in France by fraud.

Teodorin is frequently seen enjoying an extravagant lifestyle abroad indulging in multi-million dollar mansions, jets and yachts as the people of his oil-rich nation struggle in poverty, with 70 per cent of the population living under the United Nations poverty threshold of $2 (£1.25) per day.

Billboards in the capital Malabo seek to show him at work and in touch with the people, but diplomats and analysts cite his playboy lifestyle, coupled with an uneasy relationship with elders in the tight power circles as causes for concern.

The French judges, who have been handling the case since 2010, on the basis of “concealment of embezzled public funds”, suspect that the properties were purchased with public money from Equatorial Guinea.

As part of the investigation, French police raided a building belonging to Equatorial Guinea in a wealthy area of Paris in February. After three days they removed art works and fine wines worth several million euros.

The building was valued at about €150 million (£125m) and investigators say it housed a nightclub and hairdressers, suggesting it was not being used as a diplomatic residence.

In October last year, 11 supercars worth up to £5m were seized by investigators from outside a Paris mansion belonging to Teodorin.

The vehicles, which included two Bugatti Veyrons, a Ferrari 599 GTO and a Maserati MC12 were all registered in his father’s name.

Anti-corruption organisation Transparency International had filed the original legal complaint against Teodorin .

On 1 March, Teodorin filed for defamation against Daniel Lebegue, the president of the French arm of Transparency, denying he had embezzled funds.

President Obiang has ruled the former Spanish colony for more than three decades, the longest serving African leader after the demise of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, with rights groups labelling his regime one of the world’s most corrupt.

The country produces about 240,000 barrels of oil per day.

In January, Teodorin asked a US court to dismiss attempts by the Obama administration to seize $71m worth of his assets, denying charges that they were obtained with allegedly corrupt funds taken from his country.

He argued he had not violated US or Equatorial Guinea law and called the corruption allegations “character assassination” against him and his country.

Equatorial Guinea in October said it wanted to appoint Teodorin as its Deputy Permanent Delegate at UN cultural agency Unesco in Paris, a position that would give him diplomatic immunity in France.