Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    Investigations Underway into Corruption and Embezzlement in West Africa

   by Anne Look

   So-called "ill-gotten gains" investigations are underway into several
   current and former ruling families from West and Central Africa.
   Senegal's new government has launched a landmark investigation into
   several key figures from the former government, while justice officials
   in the United States and France continue to investigate the foreign
   assets of African heads of state and their families who are accused of
   embezzling money from public coffers back home.

   Dakar has reportedly filed a complaint with a Paris court to
   investigate the origins of assets held in France by an undisclosed list
   of high-profile figures associated with the former Senegalese
   government.

   The complaint recalls those filed by French and African anti-corruption
   NGOs (non-governmental agencies) beginning in 2007 that sparked
   on-going investigations in France into the wealth of sitting presidents
   of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo and their family
   members. They are alleged to have used embezzled public money to
   bankroll at-times lavish lifestyles in France.

   Teodorin Obiang, the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, in
   particular, has made headlines since 2011 as French and American
   authorities have seized tens of millions of dollars of his assets
   abroad. A display of wealth that one analyst told VOA went far beyond
   Obiang's government salary and was "so obscene" it could not be ignored
   - luxury cars, mansions, a jet, $2-million dollars of Michael Jackson
   memorabilia.

   France issued an arrest warrant for Obiang after he failed to appear
   for questioning in July. Equatorial Guinea has, in turn, taken France
   to the International Court of Justice to stop the corruption case and
   named Obiang as second vice-president in what some observers say was an
   attempt to provide immunity from prosecution.

   What's different about the move made by Senegalese authorities in
   France is that it comes as part of concurrent investigations by
   authorities within Senegal.