It was announced today that the U.S. government filed complaints against the son of Equatorial Guinea's president Obiang Mbasong. The US government seeks to take over approximately $70.8 million in real and personal property, which are proceeds of ‘foreign corruption offenses’ laundered in the United States.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A.Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. According to the complaints, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (Nguema) used his position and influence as a government minister for Equatorial Guinea to acquire criminal proceeds through corruption and money laundering. Nguema's father has been president of Equatorial Guinea for over three decades. The country is rich in natural resources and exports millions of dollars worth of oil to the west. Under Equatoguinean law, the natural resources belong to the people of Equatorial Guinea.
“The complaints announced today allege that, on a modest government salary, Minister Nguema amassed wealth of over $100 million…while his people struggled, he lived the high life – purchasing a Gulfstream jet, a Malibu mansion and nearly $2 million in Michael Jackson memorabilia.
US officials say that despite an official government salary of less than $100,000 per year, Nguema amassed more than $100 million during a period in which he and an inner circle of individuals who hold critical positions of political and economic power in Equatorial Guinea were the near-exclusive beneficiaries of the extraction and sale of that country’s natural resources.
The complaints allege that Nguema used intermediaries and corporate entities to acquire numerous assets in the United States, including more than $1.8 million worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia, a $38.5 million Gulfstream G-V jet, a $30 million house in Malibu, Calif., and a 2011 Ferrari automobile valued at more than $530,000.
In 2003, ICE HSI established the Foreign Corruption Investigations Group in Miami to target corrupt foreign officials around the world that attempt to utilize U.S. financial institutions to launder illicit funds. The group conducts investigations into the laundering of proceeds emanating from foreign public corruption, bribery or embezzlement. The objective is to prevent foreign derived ill-gotten gains from entering the U.S. financial infrastructure, to seize identified assets in the United States and recover these funds on behalf of those affected by foreign official corruption.
Read more at http://africangreed.blogspot.com/2010/12/equatorial-guineas-sons-35m-malibu.html
