Transparency International rates Equatorial Guinea rd out of countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index. He becomes the first African leader to be sentenced in France for allegedly ill-gotten gains, although his assets have also been targeted in the United States and Switzerland.
Seemingly unabashed, within 40 minutes of the court's verdict, Obiang posted a video clip on social media showing him on a luxury motorbike in the capital Malabo. In a profile by French TV at the turn of the millennium, he talked with pride of his wine collection, of buying 30 suits at once from top-market tailors and was filmed at the wheel of his cars, ranging from a Bentley and a Rolls-Royce to a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.
Obiang was just 10 when in his father overthrew his bloodthirsty uncle, the dictator Francisco Macias Nguema. In the s, the new leader's son was enrolled in the select Ecole des Roches in Normandy, northwest France, a school that prides itself on educating the offspring of leaders from all over the world. Keen to live it up in Paris, Rio and the United States, Obiang was not even 30 when his father appointed him minister of forests in in his tropical homeland.
The sanctions will see the UK impose asset freezes and travel bans to prevent named individuals channelling money through UK banks or from entering the country.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the new sanctions targeted individuals who had "lined their own pockets at the expense of their citizens". Despite his legal troubles abroad, Teodorin keeps his place at the top of Equatorial Guinea's political establishment. His father is Africa's longest serving leader and has been described by human rights organisations as one Africa's most brutal dictators.
While the president himself is the key figure, his son is "relatively well known as a personality in west and central Africa given the international media coverage he has attracted", says Africa analyst Paul Melly.
Image source, AFP. Officials reported similar results following the November presidential elections. A French judge announced in May that he would launch a landmark investigation into whether President Obiang and two other African leaders plundered state coffers to buy luxury homes and cars in France.
It became known as the case of "ill-gotten gains". A complaint filed by Transparency International France, accused the leaders, who denied any wrongdoing, of acquiring millions of dollars of real estate in Paris and on the French Riviera and buying luxury cars with embezzled public money.
However, a French appeal court threw out the case saying the activists couldn't act against foreign heads of state. Emphasizing that coercive measures have never resolved conflicts, but run counter to the principle of State sovereignty, he said the Security Council must be reformed to make it more democratic and representative.
Its current structure is obsolete because the political criteria that prevailed in no longer govern the world. Africa is the future of humanity and it should not be disenfranchised and left out of major decisions, he said, adding that the Council should shoulder its responsibility for recent conflicts in the Sahel and for uncontrolled migration from Africa to Europe.
Reviewing the situation in his country, he said its economic emergence will be achieved in a relatively short period of time.
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