LONDON, 8th March, 2011: The international watchdog, Global Witness, has learned that Teodorin Obiang, the notorious son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-ruling dictator, commissioned plans to build a superyacht worth 380 million US dollar (2 milliarder DKR) – almost three times more than his energy-rich country spends annually on health and education programs combined.
This news comes amid an increasingly heated debate about how Middle Eastern dictators and their family members have enjoyed luxury lifestyles, as well as stashing their assets in foreign countries.
Teodorin (full name Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue) has asked Germany’s Kusch Yachts to draw up a basic design for the secret project, which is codenamed “Zen.”
Last year, Global Witness revealed details from a U.S. Justice Depart-ment investigation into Teodorin which mentioned plans to build a yacht.
After discovering that it was to be built at Kusch’s shipyard in northern Germany, a Global Witness investigator visited the company and obtained key details about the project, confirming the identity of the client, and the yacht’s price tag.
The vessel’s basic design was completed by Kusch in December 2009 for 250.000 euro with an original delivery date set for late 2012. However, construction has not yet started.
The Obiang regime has a long track record of looting (puge/plyndre) money that belongs in Equatorial Guinea’s treasury.
Global Witness has previously revealed Teodorin’s profligate (udsvævende) lifestyle in the US and elsewhere with a 35 million dollar Malibu mansion, a fleet of luxury cars and a private jet, while earning a ministerial salary of 6.799 dollar per month. It would take him some 4.600 years to pay for Project Zen on his reported official salary.
– Evidence points to corruption by Teodorin on a scale that would not be possible or attractive if countries like Germany and the U.S. were not safe havens, in terms of free passage for him and for his questionable private wealth, said Gavin Hayman, Director of Campaigns at Global Witness.
– 380 million is a staggering sum – that a President’s son from such a poor country has ordered this yacht is outrageous extravagance on his part, noted he.
Teodorin’s father, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, took power in 1979 following a bloody coup and presides over a repressive government almost entirely dependent on energy revenues generated by ExxonMobil, Marathon and other multinational giants and has one of the worst human rights reputations in the world.
Obiang came eighth on a 2006 list by Forbes of the world’s richest leaders with a fortune estimated at 600 million dollar, whilst the majority of Equatorial Guinea’s people live in poverty.
And since oil was discovered in the mid-1990s, poverty levels have actually worsened. Equatorial Guinea enjoys a per capita income of about 37.900 dollar, one of the highest in the world. Yet 77 percent of the population falls below the poverty line, 35 percent die before the age of 40, and 58 percent lack access to safe water.
Forty-one-year old Teodorin is the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and vice president of the ruling party, and is apparently being groomed to succeed his father.
A US embassy cable from March 2009 posted by Wikileaks describes how Teodorin was given a significant tract of pristine jungle to log, leaving him with a “large windfall (profit)”. The author of the cable paints a picture of a nepotistic state where choice natural resource concessions are handed out to the President’s family and close associates.
Responding to corruption allegations, Teodorin told the US official: “I have been very lucky in business [.] and I like to live well”.
According to the Justice Department investigation Teodorin funneled roughly 75 million dollar into the United States between 2005 and 2007 through three European banks – Banque de France, Natixis and Fortis – and then on to the U.S. through Wachovia (later bought by Wells Fargo), Union Bank of California, and Bank of America.
Global Witness questioned what checks these banks had done on Teodorin’s funds; they could not comment on this.
“It is suspected that a large portion of Teodoro Nguema OBIANG’s assets have originated from extortion, theft of public funds, or other corrupt conduct,” says a Justice Department document dated 4 September 2007. The document relates to a preliminary investigation; as yet no charges have been filed.
Kusch employees who spoke with Global Witness’ investigator said that Teodorin’s yacht will be 118,5 meters long, housing a cinema, restaurant, bar, swimming pool and a 1,3 million dollar security system complete with floor motion sensors, photoelectric barriers and fingerprint door openers.
Its total contract price is approximately 288 million euro. This would make it the world’s second most expensive yacht, behind Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s 1,2 billion dollar Eclipse.
England’s Tim Heywood, one of the world’s most renowned yacht designers, produced the drawings for Project Zen. Heywood’s previous designs include the 377-foot Pelorus, which served as the blueprint for Project Zen and is also owned by Abramovich.
Kilde: Global Witness
