WRITTEN BY ŠARŪNAS ČERNIAUSKAS (15MIN.LT), DELFIN MOCACHE MASSOKO AND PAUL RADU (OCCRP)

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-serving president, rules oil-rich Equatorial Guinea with an iron hand. The tiny country halfway down the west coast of Africa is considered one of the 15 most corrupt states in the world, according to Transparency International.

While the citizens of the country live in poverty, President Obiang and his family have enriched themselves using an intricate network of corruption.

Obiang’s corruption has come under the glare of media and governments. Authorities in several countries are tightening their grip on Obiang and his family and their sophisticated network for laundering embezzled funds. French, Swiss and Spanish authorities have filed cases to recover assets tied to the president and his relatives.

But the Obiangs have not worked alone. Reporters for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its Lithuanian partner, 15min, found that Obiang and his family were assisted by at least two partners in Eastern Europe. The Eastern European-connected deals include owning and managing a fleet of cargo ships as well as constructing and managing a shipyard in the African country. 

Power Corrupts

President Obiang has been ruling Equatorial Guinea since 1979 when he overthrew his uncle in a military coup. Despite the country’s natural riches, rampant corruption has left most of its people living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Ruling Equatorial Guinea is a family business. Obiang’s son and heir-apparent Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (nicknamed Teodorin) was appointed by his father to be the first vice-president of Equatorial Guinea in June 2016.

Teodorin is a huge fan of the late pop star Michael Jackson and lives in opulence reminiscent of his hero. American authorities investigated Teodorin’s US assets as early as 2004, laying claim to a Malibu mansion worth $30 million, along with luxury cars and six life-sized statues of the King of Pop, according to a New York Times report.

Official court data published by the US Department of Justice indicates that Teodorin amassed more than $300 million in assets while officially earning less than $100,000 per year.

“Through relentless embezzlement and extortion, Vice President Nguema Obiang shamelessly looted his government and shook down businesses in his country to support his lavish lifestyle, while many of his fellow citizens lived in extreme poverty,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell.

In a settlement filed with the US Department of Justice in October 2014, Teodorin agreed to relinquish assets worth roughly $30 million. Assets were reportedly sold at auctions and the proceeds given to charities dedicated to helping the people of Equatorial Guinea, New York Times reported.

Currently, Teodorin’s assets are under scrutiny in France. In 2012, French authorities issued an arrest warrant for Teodorin and seized several luxury cars and his mansion in Paris on Avenue Foch. The mansion, nicknamed ‘Teodorin Obiang Palace,’ is located a few hundred meters from the Arc de Triomphe. According to news reports by El Pais, Teodorin spent some €25 million on the mansion.

And just this month, Swiss authorities seized 11 luxury sports cars in Geneva ‘as part of a preliminary investigation into alleged corruption,” the AP reported.

 The Eastern European Connection

Reporters for OCCRP and 15min discovered that an Eastern European network of companies and people play an important role in the Obiangs’ schemes.

The role of one of those persons is well known. Court records from Spanish and American authorities directly and indirectly identify a former Soviet diplomat, Vladimir Kokorev, as a key player in Obiang’s network. In 2015, Kokorev and his wife, Yulia, and son, Igor, were arrested in Panama on charges from Spain that media say are related to the looting of Equatorial Guinea. A Spanish non-governmental organization had filed a civil claim against the Kokorevs for money laundering for the Obiangs. Kokorev is currently in a Spanish prison but authorities have refused to comment on the charges.

The Kokorevs had fled Spain in 2012, after Spanish law enforcement initiated an investigation focused on their business with the regime in Equatorial Guinea. The case was based on a civil complaint filed in 2008 by the Spanish Association for Human Rights (APHDE) working with the Open Society Foundation Justice Initiative. The complaint, which was taken up by prosecutors, alleged that the Kokorevs, via the country’s very lucrative shipping and oil industries, laundered more than $30 million on behalf of the Obiang regime.

The Kokorev connection was featured in money-laundering reports as early as 2004. One of them is the Riggs report by the US Senate. Named for the former Washington-based Riggs Bank that was used to siphon Equatorial Guinea money, the report mentions two Panamanian companies, Kalunga Co. S.A. and Apexside Trading Ltd., which were allegedly used to invest ill-gotten gains on behalf of the country’s ruling family.

An official report of the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative identifies the Kokorevs as the managers of Kalunga Co. The report published by StAR also says that Kalunga’s money was allegedly used to buy properties for the Obiangs. The US Senate’s investigation stated that “at least one” of these two companies “may be owned in whole or in part” by President Obiang himself.

The investigation of money flowing through Riggs Bank revealed that Kalunga got more than $26.5 million in wire transfers from the Equatorial Guinea government’s account designated for receiving funds from foreign oil companies doing business in the country.

The report reveals that Riggs Bank had reason to believe that the Obiangs were behind the Panamanian accounts. According to the Senate document, the bank reached out to the president himself, but he “declined to provide any additional information about the wire transfers to these companies, other than to say that the wire transfers had been authorized.”

The Lithuanian Proxy and the President’s Ship

Reporters for OCCRP and 15min learned that while the Kokorevs’ investigation was drawing unwanted attention, another key player in the Obiangs’ Eastern European network was quietly working on their behalf.

Vladimir Stefanov is a Lithuanian citizen linked to both the Kokorevs and the Obiangs via documents assigning power of attorney, contracts and businesses.

Since 1999 Stefanov, together with Yulia and Vladimir Kokorev, managed a Panamanian company called International Shipping Advisors S.A. This company was established by Ismael Gerli Champsaur, a Panamanian lawyer who did work for the Kokorevs and was later subpoenaed by Spanish authorities in December 2015 to provide information.

In 1999 Gerli Champsaur set up another shipping firm in Panama, Intracoastal Trading Services SA. Stefanov, Kokorev and his wife, along with Fausto Abeso, President Obiang’s son-in-law, have all received in 2013 powers of attorney to conduct business on behalf of the company. Abeso is now the minister of civil aviation in Equatorial Guinea and was the country’s ambassador to Russia in 2005.

Stefanov’s most important Panamanian connection is to Glomar Supplies S.A., a company that is managing a fleet of cargo ships tied to Equatorial Guinea’s regime. One of those ships is known to be owned by Obiang, and others may be as well. Glomar is also a shareholder in a Lithuanian company, Minijos Salos, together with Stefanov’s daughter.

Stefanov received a power of attorney for Glomar Supplies which granted him the right to manage its bank accounts, conclude business deals and register movable or immovable property, including ships.

In an interview with 15min, Stefanov confirmed having the power of attorney for Glomar Supplies, but said it was exclusively for performing his duties as a director. He refused to disclose Glomar’s ownership. “It’s a commercial secret. Maybe I know [the owners], maybe I don’t,” said Stefanov.

Ghost Ships

Understanding Obiang’s ties requires looking at the vessels the company operates. Rio Ekuku, a cargo ship with the length of one and a half soccer fields, is one of the vessels in the Glomar-managed fleet. The ship was bought in April 2008 from a Chinese company by Backyard Marine Services Inc., another Panamanian company established by the Panamanian lawyer Gerli Champsaur. Backyard was represented during the purchase of the ship by Vladimir Stefanov.

Subsequent records seen by OCCRP allege that Rio Ekuku went through a puzzling chain of secretive transactions involving tens of millions of dollars. The scheme, often seen in money-laundering or tax evasion cases, followed a pattern in which a set of companies connected to each other sold assets amongst themselves. The sales are part of the Spanish investigation.

Reporters met Stefanov at his office in the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda, where he said that the alleged chain of consecutive sales are “either fiction or [a] setup”.

He said that Rio Ekuku changed ownership only twice: “I’ve heard this tale. I will not confirm it.”

Stefanov said such a sale would require changing the vessel’s country of registration which would require a lot of paperwork. “We checked it. None of these ships went through this procedure.”

Stefanov blames Gerli Champsaur for the paperwork and any problems.

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