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Kleptocracy: Veep Must Return $30 Million, Michael Jackson Memorabilia
The vice president of Equatorial Guinea has agreed to hand over more than US$ 30 million worth of property including Michael Jackson memorabilia to the US government.
Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who is the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, had the civil forfeiture case brought against him in 2011. Court documents reveal that his salary is less than US$ 100,000 but that he used his high position to loot more than US$ 300 million, reports the US Justice Department.
Not only was this the first case brought by the US’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative against a living person, it was also the first brought against a person still in power, Ken Hurwitz, senior legal officer for anti-corruption at the Open Society Justice Initiative,told Voice of America.
The settlement recovers about half of the amount originally sought by the Justice Department, illustrating the difficulty of bringing a case against someone still in power. Although Nguema Obiang is accused of obtaining more than US$ 300 million, the settlement he reached with US officials will merely require him to sell his US$ 30 million Malibu mansion, a Ferrari, and six life-size Michael Jackson statues, reports the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
He will be able to keep Jackson’s famous white crystal glove, a Gulfstream jet and other assets, which are not located in the US.
According to the WSJ, since the Initiative was announced in 2010, it has collected about half of the $1.2 billion sought in 15 cases in 14 different countries. Most of the proceeds will be used to benefit Equatorial Guinea, with US$ 20 million going to a charitable organization and US$ 10.3 million going to the US government.
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