Equatorial Guinea announced on Wednesday 14 June 2023 that it had ordered the “preventive seizure” of 80 billion CFA francs (over 120 million euros) of assets of four Brazilian companies established in the country after a diplomatic dispute in 2018.

According to AFP, in September 2018, more than $16 million (around €14.7 million) in cash and jewellery had been seized by the Brazilian authorities in the luggage of a delegation accompanying the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mango.

Known as Teodorin, he is the son of Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been running the country since 1979, the world record for longevity in power for a head of state living outside monarchy.

As the delegation was not on an official mission, only Teodorin enjoyed diplomatic immunity and the other 11 members of the delegation had their luggage searched by the Brazilian customs and were interrogated, had at the time indicated Brazilian media.

Brazilian law prohibits entry into the country with a quantity of species greater than 10,000 reais (about 1,900 euros).

Since that incident, the Equatorial Guinea Public Prosecutor’s Office had filed a claim for “damages” before the Equato-Guinean courts after learning “The seizure, appraisal and auction of goods of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, including the property that houses the diplomatic services in the city of Sao Paulo,” says a statement issued by the Equatorial Guinea-Vice Presidency on Wednesday.

The Equatorial Guinean justice has granted this request and recognized an injury of 80 billion CFA francs (121.8 million euros) to the benefit of Equatorial Guinea which may be compensated by the “preventive seizure of property” of four Brazilian construction companies “owned by the State”: ARG, LTDA, ZAGOPE, and OAS GE, says the Vice-President.

The injury may also be “charged against the credit balances” of these companies to the public administration, adds the same source.

The Brazilian authorities have not acted on AFP’s demands in the immediate future.

“Finally, after five years, Equatorial Guinea has done justice thanks to its own institutions after the diplomatic incident in Campinas (Sao Paulo State), in Brazil in 2018,” Teodorin said on Twitter.

The Court of Cassation of France is due to rule, this Wednesday, July 28, 2021, on the appeal lodged by Teodorin Obiang, Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea and son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.Sentenced in Paris on 10 February 2020 to three years in prison with a suspended sentence and a fine of €30 million, the 52-year-old politician filed an appeal to hope that the sentence would be annulled. The Court of Cassation will have two options: to consider that it is not up to France to rule on these ill-gotten assets or to confirm the conviction and proceed with the restitution of these assets to the Equatorial Guinea population.

Teodorin Obiang, Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea, expects, this Wednesday, July 28, the response of the French Court of Cassation following the action he filed after his conviction on 10 February 2020 for having fraudulently disposed of a wealth estimated at 150 million euros in French territory. The French justice system must therefore rule on this sentence imposed on the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The French High Court had two options: to declare itself incompetent by holding that the facts had taken place in Equatorial Guinea or to confirm the award and to immediately demand the restitution of ill-gotten property.

Teodorin Obiang, 52, who is responsible for the defence and security of his country, is renowned for his taste for the good life, luxury and comfort. In particular, it has built up a car fleet valued at €5.7 million, composed among others of three Bugatti, one Rolls-Royce and two Maserati. Among the assets seized during the judicial investigation is a luxurious building located on Avenue Foch, and estimated at 107 million euros, in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of Paris.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, already sentenced in February 2020 by the Paris Court of Appeal, still loses a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The court’s verdict proves France right in the context of the ill-gotten gains affair between the two countries.

The UN court ruled in favor of France, pronouncing the following verdict: “The building at 42, avenue Foch in Paris has never acquired the status of diplomatic mission of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in the French Republic.” A sentence that could surprise the Equatorial Guinean authorities who had requested the opening of this trial by filing a complaint against France after the search carried out by the French police at the home of the president’s son in 2012. An operation during which the French authorities had seized the property worth 107 million euros and several other assets. An act deemed illegal by Equatorial Guinea, which had not hesitated to file a complaint with the high UN jurisdiction. As for France, it had quite simply specified that this property was a good acquired illicitly by the son of the president with the public funds of his country.

It is thus a new judicial failure for Teodorin Obiang Mangue, moreover, vice-president of Equatorial Guinea since 2016. In fact, in February 2020, he was sentenced to three years in prison suspended and 30 million euros. ‘euros fine for having illegally acquired immense property on French soil.