(3 minutes read)
- Equatorial Guinea announced yesterday (Monday) that it was closing its embassy in London after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions against Teodorin Nguema Obiang, the vice president and son of the country’s veteran president
- He is charged with siphoning state assets into his own bank accounts, thereby misappropriating the funds from state’s exchequer
- The Vice President already entangled in a dispute with France over a 107-million-euro mansion on Paris’s Avenue Foch
Equatorial Guinea announced yesterday (Monday) that it was closing its embassy in London after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions against Teodorin Nguema Obiang, the vice president and son of the country’s veteran president. He is charged with siphoning state assets into his own bank accounts, thereby misappropriating the funds from state’s exchequer.
Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono in the national TV asserted that president’s son did not “accept interference” in the central African state’s “domestic affairs. He also maintained that the sanctions were against the tenets of the principle of international law. However, he did not give any details as to when the decision would take effect.
The officials said that the younger Obiang has not made any investment in the United Kingdom. The British government decided to freeze Obiang’s assets and bar him from entry to the United Kingdom. The reaction of the Central African country  comes as a sequel to this British decision. They claim he has swindled US $500 million on mansions around the world, luxury cars and a collection of Michael Jackson memorabilia including a US$275,000 crystal-covered glove that the singer wore on his 1987-89 “Bad” tour as reported by www.trendanafrica.com earlier. France is also making similar allegations against him.
The Vice President was already entangled in a dispute with France over a 107-million-euro mansion on Paris’s Avenue Foch. In February 2020, a French court handed him a three-year suspended sentence, a 30-million-euro fine and confiscation of his assets in France. A final ruling by the Court of Cassation is expected any time from now.
