Taking Down Teodorín

There’s no more infamous role or corruption more harmful than that of a personal dictatorship. Luckily, there are countries that know how to deal with dictators. Which brings us to the case of the people of the U.S. (represented by Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury) against Teodorin Nguema Obiang, vice president of Equatorial Guinea and the Guinean dictator’s favorite son. Basically, Shasky and her team forced Teodorín to sell his main properties in the United States in exchange for dropping the charges (supposedly well-founded, as the vice president and heir has accepted the deal) of corruption and money laundering. A wealthy man, Teodorín sold a house in Malibu (golf course, pool, tennis court, six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, a little smaller than Buckingham Palace), a Ferrari, and Michael Jackson memorabilia, for which he paid a high price. The money from the sale (about 30 million euros) will go to NGOs, who will distribute it among the poorest people of Guinea. Part of the looted money will be returned to those who were exploited.

And how did Teodorín get such illustrious properties, a fraction of the wealth he accumulated? According to the American justice system, by plundering and collecting kickbacks received during the intensive exploitation of the Guinean forest while he was Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. France also has decided to take down the Obiang heir. Judges Roger Loire and René Grouman have seized two mansions in Washington (this man is a real estate boom in himself) to cover the costs of the case against him for money laundering and corruption.

From this background it appears that Teodorín has a peculiar profile. He adores real estate (as a good Guinean patriot, he buys in the U.S.) and adores Michael Jackson (he managed to save his idol’s Swarovski crystal glove from the sale forced by the American justice system). This man, greedy without audacity, is the future that awaits Guinea, a country looted to satisfy the megalomania of a freak.