Mobutu’s Swiss estate finally sold
A buyer has finally been found for the Swiss retreat of the former Zairean dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.
The villa in Savigny, canton Vaux, went to a Swiss buyer for SFr3.1 million during an auction on Thursday.
Local authorities had previously received written offers to the value of SFr2.5 million, the minimum price set at a previous auction, although the property is estimated to be worth considerably more at SFr4.25 million.
The villa of the former president of the Congo, who died in Morocco in 1997, was impounded in May 1997 at the request of judicial authorities in Mobotu’s homeland.
Cars and furniture inside the house were sold off in June, raising SFr270,000.
It is not yet clear whether the proceedings of the sale will go the Democratic Republic of Congo or to Mobutu’s estate.
swissinfo with agencies
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