French authorities seize luxury mansion belonging to son of Equatorial Guinea President Obiang

French authorities have seized the Parisian mansion belonging to Teodorin Obiang, the son of the Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He is being investigated for money-laundering.

AFP/ERIC FEFERBERG

The luxury mansion is six stories high with 101 rooms and a view of the Arc de Triomphe. It is nestled in one of the most prestigious streets in Paris on avenue Foch, in Paris’s sixteenth arrondissement, and is worth about 100 to 150 million euros.

Back in February, judges Roger le Loire and René Grouman had already seized valuables from the home worth nearly 40 million euros. About three truckloads of antiques, fine wines and art work were carted away. Among the collection was a desk belonging to King Louis XIV worth 1.5 million euros.

Equatorial Guinea has expressed its discontent with the seizures, calling it “completely offensive” in what it has termed an “unfair persecution”.

Since December 2010, the judges have been investigating how African leaders, Denis Sassou Nguesso from Congo, Teodoro Obiang Nguema from Equatorial Guinea, and Omar Bongo Ondimba from Gabaon, acquired valuable property in both France and their respective country.