Equatorial Guinea urges UN judges to halt mansion sale

Lawyers for Equatorial Guinea has accused France of ‘neo-colonial’ behaviour, urging UN judges to block the sale of a mansion in one of Paris’ poshest avenues in the latest instalment in a long-running legal tug-of-war over the multimillion-dollar property, reports Inside Politic. The African country filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2022, alleging France is violating international law by refusing to return assets seized during a corruption investigation into Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-serving President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. France’s approach ‘may be described as paternalistic and even neo-colonial. We cannot accept such disdain for our sovereignty from France,’ Carmelo Nvono-Ncá, Equatorial Guinea’s agent, told ICJ. Equatorial Guinea has asked the court for a series of urgent orders, known as provisional measures, to return the mansion in one of Paris’s most prestigious streets, Avenue Foch, and to prevent France from selling the building. Obiang was convicted in 2017, and given a three-year suspended sentence for embezzling millions of dollars in public money. French authorities seized money, luxury vehicles and the building, which boasts a hammam, a cinema and a night club. In 2021, he was sanctioned by the UK for misappropriating public funds, including spending $275 000 on the bejewelled glove that Michael Jackson wore on his ‘Bad’ tour. Switzerland and Brazil have also opened investigations into his finances. In 2020, the ICJ ruled that the building was a private residence, not a diplomatic outpost, rejecting a claim from Equatorial Guinea that the seizure violated international law. Equatorial Guinea returned to The Hague in 2022, arguing the French Government was obliged to return the assets based on a UN anti-corruption convention.