Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Obiang and the second or maternal family name is Mangue.
Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue
2nd Vice President of Equatorial Guinea
Incumbent
Assumed office
21 May 2012
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Preceded by Office established
Personal details
Born 1969 (age 44)
Political party PDGE
Alma mater Pepperdine University

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (born c. 25 June 1969,[1] nicknamed Teodorín) is the son of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea, by his first wife, Constancia Okomo. He has been Second Vice President of Equatorial Guinea since May 2012 along with former Premier Ignacio Milam Tang. Previously, he served for years as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in his father's government.

Education

Nguema Obiang studied at l'Ecole des Roches of Normandy, a French private school,[2] he also spent 5 months at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.[2][3] However according to The Times, Obiang is a graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.[4]

Spending

As the agriculture and forestry minister of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang was paid €3,200 (£2,700) a month.[5]

The New York Times reported in 2004 that he was "a rap music entrepreneur and bon vivant, fond of Lamborghinis and long trips to Hollywood and Rio de Janeiro".[6]

He drew criticism from the international media for spending close to R10,000,000 over a weekend in South Africa on champagne, property renovations, a black 2004 Bentley Arnage, a cream 2005 Bentley Continental R from MG Rover Cape Town and a 2005 Lamborghini Murcielago,[7] although the properties may soon be forcibly auctioned due to his failure to pay a South African businessman.[8] American law enforcement officials believe that most or perhaps all of his wealth comes from corruption connected to oil and gas reserves in Equatorial Guinea.[9]

Obiang's foreign interests include two houses in South Africa, worth a combined R50,000,000, a $31,000,000 compound in Malibu, California, a 5,000 square feet (460 m2) home on Avenue Foch[5] in the affluent 16th arrondissement of Paris, and the hip hop music record label TNO Entertainment. In 2008 he owned one of the 30 models of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 sports car (estimated at 1,100,000 euros) and a Maserati MC 12 at 700,000 euros.[10] He went on to purchase another Bugatti Veyron, and tried to purchase a third. In late 2011, both Veyrons, as well as 9 other cars he owned were seized by French police investigating corruption.[5] In July 2013, the confiscated goods were sold at auction.[11]

Embezzlement charges

In October 2011, seven years after the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations exposed the Obiang family’s secret accounts at Riggs Bank in Washington and five years after non-profit Global Witness discovered his mansion purchase in Malibu — the US Justice Department went to court to seize $70 million (£44m) of Nguema’s US assets, which include a Gulfstream jet, yachts, cars and Michael Jackson memorabilia.[12]

On 11 June 2012, the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed an amended complaint against Obiang, after a judge requested more evidence of the alleged corruption. The revised complaint states that Obiang spent $315 million on properties and luxury goods between 2004 and 2011. According to the complaint, Obiang, while Minister of Forestry, levied personal "taxes" against local and foreign timber companies for licenses to operate and export timber, such as a $28.80 tax for every log exported, to fund his lavish lifestyle. The prosecutors state that his expenditures "were inconsistent with both his official salary of less than $100,000 per year, and the fraudulent income he purportedly generated from his companies."[13] In October 2014, Obiang reached a settlement with DoJ to forfeit his Malibu mansion, a Ferrari, and portions of his Michael Jackson collection, for a total estimated value of US$34 million.[14]

In July 2012, an arrest warrant was issued for Obiang. Earlier on in the year in February, a Parisian mansion belonging to Obiang, worth around Euro 100 million, was raided by French police and they discovered luxury goods inside worth millions of euros.[15] The mansion was seized by French authorities in August 2012. In response, Equatorial Guinea filed a case against France in the International Criminal Court accusing France of breaching the diplomatic immunity of its representatives and premises.[15]

Possible succession

It was reported in 2005 that he was to be made vice president of Equatorial Guinea, which, according to the constitution would allow him to accede to the presidency upon his father's retirement.[16] He was eventually elevated to the post of Second Vice-President, in charge of defense and security, on 22 May 2012 alongside ex-PM Ignacio Milam.

References

  1. ↑ "Biography". 12 June 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Anne Vidalie & Vincent Hugeux (05/04/2012). "Guinée équatoriale: la vie de nabab d'Obiang Junior". L'Express. Retrieved 25 March 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ↑ "$100m spree by playboy 'heir' to poverty-stricken dictatorship ". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2011-10-27.
  4. ↑ "Playboy waits for his African throne". The Times. 2006-09-03.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Angelique Chrisafis (2012-02-06). "France impounds African autocrats' 'ill-gotten gains'". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  6. ↑ Wines, Michael (2004-03-20). "Where Coup Plots Are Routine, One That Is Not". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Johnson, RW; Town, Cape (2006-09-03). "Playboy waits for his African throne". London: The Sunday Times.
  8. ↑ "Equatorial Guinea playboy's Cape homes seized". IOL. 2006-02-16.
  9. ↑ Ian Urbina, "Taint of Corruption Is No Barrier to U.S. Visa for Millionaire", New York Times, 17 November 2009
  10. ↑ David Servenay, Transparency porte plainte pour saisir la Ferrari d'Omar Bongo, Rue 89, 15 July 2008 (French)
  11. ↑ "Luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea leader's son raise £2.8 million". The Telegraph.
  12. ↑ James V. Grimaldi (26 October 2011). "Efforts against Equatorial Guinea official shows challenge for U.S. in foreign corruption cases". The Washington Post.
  13. ↑ Bate Felix (15 June 2012). "U.S. prosecutors add charges in Equatorial Guinea graft case". Reuters.
  14. ↑ Scott Cohn (10 October 2014). "African nation leader forced to give up assets in DOJ settlement". CNBC.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Equatorial Guinea: Govt Takes France to ICC Over Obaing Corruption Raids, Africa: AllAfrica.com, 2012, retrieved 27 September 2012
  16. ↑ "Equatorial Guinea asks Angolan military aid to plan succession". afrol News. 2005-11-11.

External links