The International Court of Justice said that Equatorial Guinea has filed a new case against France over the seizure of a mansion and other assets.
The Paris mansion was taken away after the vice-president of the west African country, Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, was found guilty of stealing money from the government to pay for his lavish lifestyle.
Obiang has said that he did nothing wrong.
Equatorial Guinea had appealed the court’s decision to take the mansion, but the court’s decision was upheld last year.
Obiang is the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been in power for the longest amount of time in Africa.
Since 1979, the president has been in charge of the oil-rich state. In 2012, he chose his son to be his vice president.
The vice-president, who is 54 years old, has been criticized by international media for spending too much money.
Between 2000 and 2011, Obiang bought a number of high-end assets and properties in France. One of these was the Square de l’Avenue Foch mansion, which is in the rich 16th arrondissement of Paris.
On the Christie’s auction website, the mansion is said to have a “comfortable and prestigious interior” that includes an indoor pool, a home theater, and a private night club.
But the mansion was taken away from Obiang in 2017 after he was found guilty of theft in a French court. He was also given a three-year suspended sentence and a €30m (£26.3m) fine, which he did not have to serve.
Obiang denied the charges and said his money came from legal sources. He also tried to stop the mansion from being taken away by going to an appeals court. But the decision stood.
Now, Equatorial Guinea has brought a new case against France to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and asked the court to stop the sale of the mansion.
This time, according to the ICJ, it says France has broken its promises under a United Nations convention against corruption.
Obiang has also had property taken away from him in the United States, Brazil, and Switzerland, in addition to France. Last year, he was also punished for corruption in the United Kingdom.
