Supercars of son of Equatorial Guinea’s president seized
Eleven sports cars belonging to Teodorin Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea's president have been seized in Geneva under the orders of the canton’s public prosecutor. Obiang is currently under investigation for money laundering.
The Swiss investigation into Obiang’s assets was opened in mid-October.
“The Geneva public prosecutor confirms the opening of
criminal proceedings against Teodorin Obiang. The latter is
accused of money laundering,” the prosecutor’s office said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
“As part of the procedure, 11 vehicles were effectively
sequestered in the cargo area of Geneva airport on behalf of
the prosecution.”
The cars seized by Geneva police were a Bugatti Veyron, four
Ferraris including an Enzo and 599GTB, a Porsche 918 Spyder, a Lamborghini Veneno, a Maybach, the Koenigesegg, an Aston Martin and a McLaren P1, the Geneva prosecutor’s office added.
The Swiss investigation was prompted by a request from the French authorities, who are very interested in Obiang. In France, he is accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth and will stand trial in Paris on January 2, 2017, despite claiming diplomatic immunity.
The 47-year-old Central African, was named vice-president of Equatorial Guinea in June by his father and the country’s president Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been in power for 37 years.
GVA Dictator Alert, an open-source computer programme that identifies planes flying into Geneva airport which belong to authoritarian regimes, has flagged almost 30 flights from Equatorial Guinea to Geneva since April that are connected to the Obiang family. The latest flight was a departure from Geneva on October 19.
A dictator's plane left #gvaExternal link airport: Falcon 50 used by Equatorial Guinea government (3C-LGE) on 2016/10/19 at 10:42:20
— GVA Dictator Alert (@GVA_Watcher) October 19, 2016External link
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