Bribery And Corruption

Abstract

One white, crystal-covered ‘Bad Tour’ glove; a fedora worn by Michael Jackson onstage; a Ferrari 599 GTO; two Cape Town properties; three Piaget baguette diamond-studded watches; an André Charles Boulle antique cabinet; works by Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, Matisse and Bonnard; 1,403 bottles of high-end wine; 109 items acquired at the auction of the Yves Saint Laurent estate; a 12-acre Malibu estate; a six-storey luxury property in Paris; and a Gulfstream G-V private jet. These are among the assets listed in official documents as belonging to Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the 40-something international jet setting son of Equatorial Guinea’s longstanding president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, who wrestled power from a family member in a coup d’état in 1979.¹ Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue’s penchant for the high life coincides with a career as Equatorial Guinea’s minister of forestry and agriculture for 14 years, and his subsequent appointment to the post of second vice president May 2012.