Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso suspected of money laundering in France, according to Mediapart

Denis Christophe Sassou Nguesso, current Congolese Minister for International Cooperation and the Promotion of Public-Private Partnership, on December 31, 2019 during the last congress of the Congolese Labor Party.

© Roch Bouka/RFI

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This is a new twist in the so-called "ill-gotten gains" affair.

According to Mediapart, the son of the president of Congo-Brazzaville is suspected by French justice of having laundered 19 million euros in France.

The French news site says it had access to a foreclosure order, dated June 20, which details years of investigation into Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso's lifestyle in France. 

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According to

, French justice went on the attack at the end of June and seized a mansion, in the upscale suburbs of Paris, suspected of belonging to Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso.

According to the information site, which relies on a criminal order, the French justice believes that it has gathered enough evidence to show that the son of the Congolese president is indeed the owner of this mansion in Neuilly.

Hotel which today is occupied by Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso and his family according to the investigation report cited by our colleagues.

The French justice investigation would also relate to two other properties: two apartments in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

According to the order, the funds in question are disproportionate to the official income declared by Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, reports Mediapart, which adds that the track advanced by the investigators is that of oil, on which the executive power has the upper hand. .

Contacted by our colleagues, the lawyer for the son of the Congolese president affirms that contrary to the judicial conclusions, Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso is not the owner of the real estate concerned.

And that the facts denounced by the investigation of justice are not actually established.

Ill-gotten gains are movable and immovable property acquired in France by African state leaders with financing deemed doubtful, and which are the subject of an investigation by the French courts.

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• Congo Brazzaville

• Denis Sassou-Nguesso

• France