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South Africa seized the assets of the vice president of Equatorial Guinea

Officials in South Africa have seized a yacht and two luxury homes owned by the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang.

A court ordered the confiscation of the property after businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg won a lawsuit against Obiang alleging illegal arrest and torture.

He asked for about $2.2m in damages.

He said he was arrested and detained illegally in Equatorial Guinea for 500 days after a trade dispute.

The vice president, who is the son of the longest-reigning man in the world, did not comment on the matter.

For a long time, he and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo have been accused of turning the oil-rich country into their own, where they are enriching themselves with the country’s wealth and resources.

This is one of the recent decisions made by the courts around the world.

“We wrote about two houses in Cape Town in a document two weeks ago and a cruise ship last Tuesday,” said a lawyer named Errol Eldson, who represents the businessman in an interview with AFP newspaper.

He added that a deed has been written to put the property on the market.

The appeal that Mr. Van Rensburg filed in the South African courts for the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea to pay him compensation has been debated for a long time.

He also published a document last year about how a business trip to Equatorial Guinea in 2013, turned into a painful and difficult one after he was detained in a prison full of crampons near the river.

Obiang, who follows the style of his father – who has been in power for 43 years – is seen as his successor.

Last month, he ordered the arrest of one of his relatives for selling a helicopter.

His cousin is accused of refusing to pay the money to sell the plane. But he did not come out and say a word on the matter.

The country’s vice president – who is known for making comments – has also faced various charges.

In 2014, US authorities seized a $30m luxury home and other assets in Malibu, including a Ferrari model car, which they said was bought with public funds.

Two years ago, Swiss authorities confiscated 11 luxury cars he owned.

Among the cars were models from Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls Royce – they were auctioned for $27m.

In 2021, a court in France fined him and sentenced him to change his behavior, for using public money to do charity in European countries. However, he denied doing anything wrong.

Both in the same year, the UK also imposed sanctions on him due to allegations of bribery.

Authorities said he also had a collection of items belonging to world-famous singer Michael Jackson, including a $275,000 bracelet that the singer wore while he was alive and won it at a competition in 1980.

The British authorities said that the new bribery sanctions are aimed at people who steal the money of the people they rule and leave them in poverty.

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