More than $26 million in assets seized from Equatorial Guinea Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang will be used to buy Covid-19 vaccines and other medical supplies for the country, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
A beach house in California, a fleet of luxury cars, art, jewelry and Michael Jackson memorabilia are among the goods secured from the man commonly known as Teodorin, according to a Wednesday statement. They were bought while Obiang was officially making less than $100,000 a year as agriculture minister.
“Wherever possible, kleptocrats will not be allowed to retain the benefits of corruption,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. said in the statement.
Obiang, 53, is the son of President Teodoro Obiang, 79, who has ruled the tiny petrostate of 1.4 million people since 1979, making him the longest-serving world leader. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Obiang and his family of squandering the central African nation's wealth.
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