Equatorial Guinea takes France to UN court over case against Nguema’s son – Video

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Equatorial Guinea takes France to UN court over case against Nguema’s son – Video

10:48 CAT | 15 Jun 2016

File photo / Teodorin Obiang

Equatorial Guinea is seeking to block efforts by France to prosecute the president’s son who is accused of money laundering.

The Central African nation has appealed to the United Nations’ highest court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Equatorial Guinea wants France to pay unspecified damages for what they term as “prejudice” it has suffered.

In May, French prosecutors requested that Teodorin Obiang, the son of President Obiang Nguema, be put on trial for plundering state coffers for personal gain.

Equatorial Guinea wants the UN court to find that France has violated its sovereignty and international law and to drop proceedings against Obiang.

Obiang is second vice president of the small central African state, where a majority of the population lives in poverty despite rich oil reserves.

In 2009, a French judge announced he would launch a landmark investigation into African leaders who plundered state coffers to buy luxury homes and cars in France. The case became known as “ill-gotten gains”.