{"id":271052,"date":"2025-07-18T03:54:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T03:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271052\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T03:54:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T03:54:37","slug":"equatorial-guinea-urges-un-to-block-the-sale-of-a-paris-mansion-seized-by-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271052\/","title":{"rendered":"Equatorial Guinea urges UN to block the sale of a Paris mansion seized by France"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lawyers for Equatorial Guinea accused France of \u201cneo-colonial\u201d behavior on Tuesday, urging United Nations judges to block the sale of a mansion on one of Paris\u2019 poshest avenues<\/a> in the latest instalment in a long-running legal tug-of-war over the multimillion-dollar property.<\/p>\n

The African country filed a case at the International Court of Justice in 2022, alleging France is violating international law by refusing to return assets seized during a corruption investigation into Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue,<\/a> the son of Equatorial Guinea\u2019s long-serving president. <\/p>\n

France\u2019s approach \u201cmay be described as paternalistic and even neo-colonial. We cannot accept such disdain for our sovereignty from France,” Carmelo Nvono-Nc\u00e1, Equatorial Guinea\u2019s agent, told The Hague-based court. <\/p>\n

Equatorial Guinea has asked the court for a series of urgent orders, known as provisional measures, to return the swanky mansion on one of Paris\u2019s most prestigious streets, Avenue Foch, and to prevent France from selling the building. <\/p>\n

Obiang was convicted in 2017, and given a three-year suspended sentence for embezzling millions of dollars in public money. French authorities seized money, luxury vehicles and the building, which boasts a hammam, a cinema and a night club.<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old has faced scrutiny for corruption in other countries as well. In 2021, he was sanctioned by the United Kingdom for misappropriating public funds, including spending $275,000 on the bejeweled glove that Michael Jackson wore on his \u201cBad\u201d tour. Switzerland and Brazil have also opened investigations into his finances.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the International Court of Justice ruled that the building was a private residence, not a diplomatic outpost, rejecting a claim from Equatorial Guinea<\/a> that the seizure violated international law. <\/p>\n

Equatorial Guinea returned to The Hague in 2022, arguing the French government was obliged to return the assets based on a U.N. anti-corruption convention. <\/p>\n

Despite its oil and gas riches, Equatorial Guinea has a dramatic gap between its privileged ruling class and much of the impoverished population. The former Spanish colony is run by Africa\u2019s longest-serving president, Obiang\u2019s father Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lawyers for Equatorial Guinea accused France of \u201cneo-colonial\u201d behavior on Tuesday, urging United Nations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[102805,3907,2575,30,19118,2000,299,36,4179,102804,285,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-271052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-102805","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-corruption","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-embezzlement","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-france","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-neurological-disorders","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114872219397190604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}