"Ill-gotten gains": on appeal, justice increases Teodorin Obiang's sentence

Text by: RFI Follow

French justice condemns in appeal, this Monday, February 10, Teodorin Obiang, vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, to three years in prison suspended and 30 million euros fine for having fraudulently built a considerable heritage in France.

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Justice weighed on appeal the sentence pronounced at first instance. On October 27, 2017, at the end of the first so-called " ill-gotten trial" before the French justice system, the Paris Criminal Court had pronounced the same prison sentence but had suspended the fine of 30 million euros.

►Read also: On "ill-gotten gains", a report requests a mechanism for restitution to populations

The magistrates also confirmed the confiscation of all the seized property, including a sumptuous mansion avenue Foch in Paris, which however remains suspended from a decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Pending the outcome of this procedure, the mansion cannot be seized. A series of hearings between Malabo and Paris is scheduled to take place in The Hague, the seat of the ICJ, next week, from February 17 to 21, 2020.

This six-storey building is located on Avenue Foch, one of the most prestigious and expensive in the French capital, and its value is estimated between 100 and 150 million euros. AFP photo / Eric Feferberg

Money laundered estimated at 150 million euros

A former minister promoted to vice president, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's son did not appear at his appeal trial, nor did he appear at the first trial three years ago. His lawyers have repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of French justice.

Teodorin Obiang, 50, was convicted of laundering the misuse of corporate property, laundering embezzlement of public funds, laundering breach of trust. Unlike the first trial, however, he was acquitted of the offense of money laundering and corruption.

The amounts laundered in France are estimated at 150 million euros. During the appeal trial in December, the public prosecutor's office had requested against him four years of imprisonment with an arrest warrant, a fine of 30 million euros and the confiscation of the seized property.

►Read also: In Equatorial Guinea, from ill-gotten power to ill-gotten goods

(with AFP)

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