Teodoro Obiang the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced three years to prison for corruption by the French court.
The son of Africa’s longest-serving president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, was absent from the trial when the French court found him guilty of embezzlement.
The Paris judge found that the president’s son had used his position as Agriculture and Forestry Minister to siphon off payments from timber firms who were exporting from Equatorial Guinea.
Obiang’s forestry company Somagui Forestal was “an empty shell used solely to channel public money”, prosecutors said.
The 48 year old is known for his lavish tastes and court ruled that his assets in France will be seized, including a mansion on Avenue Foch in Paris. He also got a suspended fine of 30m euros (£27m; $35m).
The VP denied the charges, saying his wealth had come from legitimate sources. His lawyers accused France of “meddling in the affairs of a sovereign state.”
In November, Swiss prosecutors seized 11 luxury cars belonging to Obiang. They said he had plundered his country’s oil wealth to buy luxuries, including a private jet and Michael Jackson memorabilia.
The case against him was triggered by anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International and a similar NGO, called Sherpa.
It is the first of three French investigations into the alleged “ill-gotten gains” of long-standing African leaders and their families, including the family of Gabon President Ali Bongo having 39 French luxury properties, while 24 are owned by the family of Congo-Brazzaville’s President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
French police says they also have about 200 bank accounts.
