E Guinea leader’s son fined $32.9m in French embezzlement trial

PARIS: The playboy son of Equatorial Guinea´s leader was handed a 30-million-euro fine by a Paris court Monday on top of a suspended jail term and the confiscation of his assets for embezzling public funds.

Teodorin Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea´s leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, was found guilty in 2017 of having plundered his country´s state coffers to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Europe.

At the time, he was handed a three-year jail term as well as the 30-million-euro ($32.9 million) fine -- both suspended. Obiang, who is also vice president, challenged that penalty only to have the Paris appeals court return a heavier sentence on Monday by removing the suspended provision from the fine. It confirmed his conviction on a range of laundering charges -- relating to embezzling of public funds, misuse of corporate assets and breach of trust -- and upheld the lower court´s order for his ill-gotten assets to be confiscated.

The president´s son, fond of fast cars and Michael Jackson memorabilia, was not in court for the ruling, just as he had not attended his initial trial. Prosecutors estimate he laundered 150 million euros in misappropriate funds in France.

The 50-year-old owns a six-storey, 107-million-euro mansion in an upscale part of Paris, complete with a hammam, a disco and gold-plated taps.

When investigators first raided the home, they hired trucks to haul away a fleet of Bugattis, Ferraris, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and other cars as evidence. The fate of his residence, which was also seized by French authorities, remains unclear after Monday´s ruling, as Obiang´s lawyers have lodged an appeal with the International Court of Justice to claim the property should be offered the same protections as other diplomatic buildings. A hearing is scheduled to take place in The Hague next week.