French justice has refused to return to the State of Equatorial Guinea a mansion located avenue Foch in Paris, confiscated after the conviction of its vice-president Teodorin Obiang, we learned from a source familiar with the matter. The Paris Court of Appeal “declared the claim for restitution inadmissible”, confirmed a judicial source to AFP. Teodorin Obiang, the Equatoguinean vice-president, was definitively sentenced to a three-year suspended prison sentence, a 30 million euro fine and confiscation of property, after the rejection of his appeal in July 2021.
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Taking note of this condemnation, Equatorial Guinea had sent to the Court of Appeal in September 2021 a request for restitution of the building on Avenue Foch, claiming to be the owner. “in good faith”. Cinema, hammam, marble and gold taps: this luxurious building of nearly 3000 m², estimated at around 107 million euros by the courts, is located in one of the most chic districts of Paris, and was at the heart of a showdown between Paris and Malabo.
Miscarriage of justice
“It is a denial of justice” for Equatorial Guinea, reacted the lawyer of the State, Kévin Grossmann, by announcing his intention to appeal in cassation. “As the various successive criminal courts have judged, the Guinean population, and therefore the State itself, is also a victim” in this case, he said. According to him, the building in question had been sold in September 2011 by Teodorin Obiang to the State of Equatorial Guinea (therefore before its seizure in 2012), which is therefore the owner. “in good faith” et “victim”.
“The criminal law provides for the restitution of the sums looted from the victims. The (Equatoguinean) State will never cease to appeal to assert its right to property.he assured Wednesday, pointing out that Teodorin Obiang had been convicted on a personal basis. “Equatorial Guinea’s ultimate and pathetic attempt to recover the building on Avenue Foch against all legal evidence has obviously failed”welcomed the lawyers of the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TIF), Mes Apolline Cagnat and William Bourdon. “The challenge now is to organize, in compliance with the recent law of August 4, 2021 organizing the restitution of ill-gotten gains, its effective restitution for the sole benefit of the Equatoguinean people”according to them.