Equatorial Guinea leader's son fined 30m euros in embezzlement trial

Teodorin Obiang, pictured here in 2012, is the son of Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the country for four decades. [AFP/File / ABDELHAK SENNA]

The playboy son of Equatorial Guinea's leader was handed a 30-million-euro fine by a Paris court Monday on top of a suspended jail term and the confiscation of his assets for embezzling public funds.

Teodorin Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea's leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, was found guilty in 2017 of having plundered his country's state coffers to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Europe.

At the time, he was handed a three-year jail term as well as the 30-million-euro ($32.9 million) fine -- both suspended.

Obiang, who is also vice president, challenged that penalty only to have the Paris appeals court return a heavier sentence on Monday by removing the suspended provision from the fine.

It confirmed his conviction on a range of laundering charges -- relating to embezzling of public funds, misuse of corporate assets and breach of trust -- and upheld the lower court's order for his ill-gotten assets to be confiscated.

The president's son, fond of fast cars and Michael Jackson memorabilia, was not in court for the ruling, just as he had not attended his initial trial.

Prosecutors estimate he laundered 150 million euros in misappropriate funds in France.

Some 25 supercars seized from Obiang in Switzerland were put up for auction in 2019. [AFP/File / FABRICE COFFRINI]

The 50-year-old owns a six-storey, 107-million-euro mansion in an upscale part of Paris, complete with a hammam, a disco and gold-plated taps.

When investigators first raided the home, they hired trucks to haul away a fleet of Bugattis, Ferraris, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and other cars as evidence.

The fate of his residence, which was also seized by French authorities, remains unclear after Monday's ruling, as Obiang's lawyers have lodged an appeal with the International Court of Justice to claim the property should be offered the same protections as other diplomatic buildings.

A hearing is scheduled to take place in The Hague next week.

Predation of public resources

Obiang has said his money came from legitimate sources.

His lawyers accused France during his trial of "meddling in the affairs of a sovereign state". Relations between the two nations have been strained over the case.

"It is another step in a legal marathon," William Bourdon, a lawyer for one of the NGOs to have initiated the case, Transparency International, said of Monday's ruling.

"It is a strong and powerful signal to those who believe that a culture of impunity is the indispensable means to organise and maintain a system of predation of public resources in Africa or elsewhere."

Obiang could still lodge a final challenge to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest appeals court for criminal cases.

Equatorial Guinea. [AFP]

He was agriculture and forestry minister before being promoted by his father to vice president, putting him in pole position to take over the leadership one day.

Africa's only Spanish-speaking nation, Equatorial Guinea is the continent's third-biggest oil producer but more than half of its 1.2 million population live below the poverty line.

It is regularly accused by human rights groups of corruption, repressive laws, extrajudicial killings and torture.

Obiang Nguema overthrew his uncle Francisco Macias Nguema in a bloody coup in August 1979 and became president a few months later.

He has since seen off at least half a dozen assassination or coup attempts to become Africa's longest-serving leader.

The latest of them, in December 2017, reportedly involved a group of men from Chad, Central African Republic and Sudan.

The French court case, initiated by anti-corruption NGOs, is one of three involving families of African leaders which campaigners hope signals a new willingness of French authorities to tackle money laundering.

The families of late Gabonese leader Omar Bongo and the Republic of Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso are also under investigation for embezzlement.

Paris has long been a favoured destination for the ill-gotten gains of wealthy figures linked to political leaders in Africa, particularly in France's former colonies.