Portugal’s Legal professional Basic has launched a probe into doable corruption involving Portuguese development agency Zagope and the eldest son of Equatorial Guinea’s longtime dictator, following an exposé by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media companions.
ICIJ’s investigation, primarily based on a trove of leaked paperwork obtained by Portugal’s Expresso newspaper, revealed that between 2009 and 2012 Zagope was awarded almost $1.2 billion in authorities contracts within the tiny central African petrostate.
Zagope later funneled greater than $86 million into an organization owned by the president’s son and anointed successor, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, referred to as Teodorin.
The funds to the corporate, Somagui, which French prosecutors described as “an empty shell used solely to channel public cash,” continued till at the very least 2018, the paperwork confirmed.
A spokesperson for Portugal’s Legal professional Basic confirmed “the existence of an investigation, topic to judicial secrecy” to ICIJ’s companion Expresso by way of e-mail on Wednesday, however didn’t present additional particulars.
Zagope’s dad or mum firm, Andrade Gutierrez, informed Expresso that the case was “anticipated” and “will probably be vital to make clear the information already said by the corporate in earlier articles on the matter.”
The Portuguese investigation is just not the primary time Teodrin, who has served below his father as Equatorial Guinea’s vice chairman since 2016, has caught the eye of worldwide authorities.
In a settlement with the U.S. Division of Justice in 2014, Teodorin agreed to forfeit greater than $30 million value of property allegedly derived from the proceeds of corruption.
In 2017, a decade-long authorized battle culminated in a French court docket handing him a three-year suspended sentence and a $35 million superb for embezzlement. His French property, valued at over $178 million, had been additionally seized, together with an condominium block on Paris’ prestigious Avenue Foch, which connects to the Arc de Triomphe.
The property, value over $100 million in keeping with media stories, is on the heart of an ongoing authorized dispute between Equatorial Guinea and France. Earlier this month, Equatorial Guinea referred to as on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice to intervene within the case, claiming that France was planning to promote the property and that French police had entered it and adjusted the locks.
Equatorial Guinea’s attorneys reportedly argued that the property was bought with embezzled funds from that nation, and that below a U.N. anti-corruption treaty the seized asset ought to subsequently be returned. They haven’t stated who embezzled the funds.
Equatorial Guinea had beforehand argued, unsuccessfully, that the property couldn’t be seized because it was a part of its diplomatic mission.
Final 12 months, Teodorin was additionally indicted in Brazil, the place Zagope’s dad or mum firm, development large Andrade Gutierrez, is predicated. Within the ongoing case, Brazilian federal regulation enforcement accused the president’s son of utilizing laundered funds to purchase a luxurious condominium, alleging that he unlawfully entered the nation with $16 million in money and luxurious items.
