20120804
AFP
France has seized the multi-million-dollar Paris mansion of Equatorial Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema's family as part of a graft probe involving his son, sources close to the inquiry said Friday.

The six-storey mansion on the chic Avenue Foch in the 16th district, reportedly worth between 100 and 150 million euros, was seized on July 19 in connection with an investigation into the president's son, Teodorin Obiang, said a source close to the probe, an account confirmed by a court source.

Teodorin Obiang's lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny protested the seizure.

"The building belongs to Equatorial Guinea. It is a state building for diplomatic use. The courts have no right whatsoever to seize it," he said.

In February police searched the Obiang residence as part of the probe and removed vanloads of possessions from the mansion, which occupies several thousand square metres and boasts a nightclub and hairdressing salon.

During the February seizure, police carted off paintings by famous artists, a clock worth an estimated three million euros ($ 3.7 million) and wines worth thousands of euros a bottle.

In September last year, 11 of the Obiang family's luxury cars, including Ferraris and Bugattis, were also seized in Paris as part of the investigation.

French judges Roger Le Loire and Rene Grouman, who suspect Teodorin Obiang of using embezzled funds, in July issued an international arrest warrant for the president's son, four months after beginning proceedings and after Obiang ignored a second summons for questioning.

French lawyers for Teodorin Obiang said the warrant "seriously infringed" on international law since he benefits from "total immunity" as a senior official of Equatorial Guinea.

His lawyers have also argued he cannot be charged with abuse of public resources because there is no such crime in Equatorial Guinea.

Teodorin Obiang has since May been second vice-president of the oil-rich African country, which has been ruled with an iron fist since 1979 by his father.

The investigating magistrates have since 2010 been probing the source of money spent in France by Obiang, Congo-Brazzaville's President Denis Sassou Nguesso, and Omar Bongo, the late president of Gabon.

The charges were brought by Transparency International, an anti-corruption campaign group which alleges several African leaders and their relatives spent state funds from their countries on lavish purchases in France.

Equatorial Guinea's main opposition parties have accused the veteran president of lining up his son to succeed him.