''Biens mal acquis'' (french: Ill-gotten goods) is a phrase used in French courts for litigation seeking the repayment of

asset In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can ...

s stolen from poor countries by

corrupt Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

officials. The phrase refers to anti-corruption legal proceedings against former

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...

s and strongmen outside of their country, the seizure of assets within the country of the legal proceedings, and the return of the assets to the country from which they were

embezzled Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

. ''Biens mal acquis'' are government funds from former colonies of

Françafrique In international relations, () is France's sphere of influence (or in French, meaning 'backyard') over former French and Belgian colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. The term was derived from the expression , which was used by the first president ...

, spent on luxurious lifestyles and investment real estate in France. The doctrine has since been used in similar cases filed in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Switzerland and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, and also against the

Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portug ...

family and the estate of

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

''Biens mal acquis''

The phrase ''biens mal acquis'' is derived from the French

proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...

'' bien mal acquis ne profite jamais'' meaning "a thing dishonorably obtained never truly enriches" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and is generally translated to the equivalent English phrase of "ill-gotten goods". In a March 2007 report by the Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development (CCFD), titled ''Biens mal acquis... profitent trop souvent. La fortune des dictateurs et les complaisances occidentales'' (English: Ill-Gotten Goods... Too Often Do Benefit: Western Complacency and the Wealth of Dictators), enumerates known instances of

kleptocracy Kleptocracy (from Ancient Greek, Greek κλέπτης ''kléptēs'', "thief", κλέπτω ''kléptō'', "I steal", and -κρατία -''kratía'' from κράτος ''krátos'', "power, rule") is a government whose Corruption, corrupt leaders ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n dictatorships, estimating that $100–180 billion in assets have been diverted by national leaders through embezzlement or unnecessary expenditure in recent decades. For example, Mobutu Sese Seko, the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Zaïre Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

from 1965 until his death in 1997, became notorious for using his position as military dictator to openly embezzle massive sums of state money to fund an extravagant lifestyle. Mobutu had homes in France and Switzerland, and by the time of his death held a personal fortune of $5–6 billion, leaving his country with a

public debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

of $13 billion. ''Biens mal acquis'' was originally used in France for anti-corruption legal proceedings filed in its own

judicial system The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

against

heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

of the

accused of misappropriating or stealing state assets for their own benefit. The phrase became associated with corrupt politicians of these poor post-colonial countries, as they and their associates often invested their illegally-acquired fortunes in France. The term was later popularized for all litigation filed against any corrupt politicians of poor countries in any foreign judicial system, normally in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, where the assets stolen by the defendant are believed to be held. Seized assets from former dictators found to have misappropriated treasury funds while in power have since been returned in

restitution The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court ...

to the governments of the countries they were stolen from. Despite being the first G8 country to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption, known as the Mérida Convention, France has not undertaken any restitution measures. In other cases, judicial proceedings are still underway, or opposition groups have asked for the money to be returned in some other way to the country's people because a corrupt government is still in power. Sometimes this takes the form of a development project, with negotiated milestones for the release of funds. The Belgian Centre national de coopération au développement (CNCD), or National Center for Cooperation in Development, has defined ''biens mal acquis'' as a " fixed or liquid asset or fund which may be misappropriated and illegally removed from the public heritage, and thereby impoverishing the state". Ill-gotten goods may result from

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

ious or criminal activity, which has enabled heads of state to enrich themselves far beyond the level their official incomes can explain. Ill-gotten goods may stem from embezzlement, theft, or the illicit transfer of money from state to personal accounts, from corruption or from

kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickbac ...

. Their owners often use opaque methods to hide their capital, assured of

impunity Impunity is avoidance of punishment, loss, or other negative consequences for an action. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a d ...

, particularly due to

tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

s, and also assured of the complacency of

developed nations A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...

List of assets seized

This section is a list of known assets successfully seized through ''biens mal acquis'' rulings and is incomplete:

Gabon

Gabonese president

Ali Bongo Ondimba Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959),"Bongo Ali", ''Gabon: Les hommes de pouvoir'', number 4Africa Intelligence 5 March 2002 . sometimes known as Ali Bongo, is a Gabonese politician who has been the third president of Ga ...

is estimated to have paid €98 million to the family for the Soyecourt, a historic

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

on the

rue de l'Université ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

in the 7th arrondissement in central

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. ''

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

- Assets seized from the family of

Omar Bongo El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

'' Data published by ''La Tribune'' December 3, 2008, and originating from the investigation of the '' OCRGDF'' following the March 2007 complaint brought by three French non-profits. *Audrey Blanche Bongo Odimba **rue de Longchamp, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine **500m² 4-room apartment with garage and basement * Édith Lucie Sassou - wife of President

from 1990 to 2009, daughter of

Denis Sassou Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer. He became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as ...

, President of the Republic of the Congo. **avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, 4-room apartment **avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, 4-room apartment, 342m² **avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, 4 room apartment, 284m² **rue du Mont-Boron,

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, France *

Jean Ping Jean Ping (; born 24 November 1942 in Omboué)UN profile page
Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union from 2008 to 2012, formerly married to Omar Bongo's eldest daughter, Pascaline. **rue Quentin-Bauchart, 75008 Paris **avenue d’Italie, 75013 Paris *Jeff Thierry Arsène Jaffar Bongo Ondimba - son of President Ali Bongo Ondimba **Aix-en-Provence, 125m² apartment with 13 garages, purchased 2005, value €1.24 million **Villeneuve-Loubet, house **avenue Raymond-Poincarré, 75016 Paris, 4-room apartment **also: 2 apartments in downtown Nice, 100 and 170 m², three houses just off the

Promenade des Anglais The ''Promenade des Anglais'' (; Niçard: ''Camin dei Anglés''; meaning "English Walkway") is a wikt:en:promenade, promenade along the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Nice, France. It extends from the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, airp ...

*Omar Ben Bongo - father of President Ali Bongo **bd Lannes, 75016 Paris, 7-room apartment *Omar Bongo Ondimba - President of Gabon since October 2009 **bd Frédéric-Sterling, Nice France, 8-room house, 215m² **bd Frédéric-Sterling, Nice France, 7-room apartment, 170 m² **bd Frédéric-Sterling Nice, France, 6-room apartment, 100m² **rue Edmond-Valentin, 75007 Paris, **avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 4-room apartment **avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 3-room apartment, 88m² **avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 5-room apartment, 210m² **avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 9-room apartment, 365 m² **bd Flandrin, 75016 Paris **rue de Longchamp, 75016 Paris **avenue Raymond-Poincaré, 75016 Paris **rue Leroux, 75016 Paris **rue Laurent-Pichat, 75016 Paris, apartment, 219m² *

- President of Gabon from 1967 to 2009, father of current President Omar Bongo Ondimba. **rue de la Tremoille, 75008 Paris **rue de la Faisanderie, 75016 Paris **allée des Feuillantines, 94000 Villejuif, France *Yacine Queenie Bongo Odimba **rue de la Baume, 75008 Paris,

**bd Lannes, 75016 Paris **bd Suchet, 75016 Paris

Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo - Assets seized from the family of

*Denis Sassou Nguesso declares that he does not have a bank account in his name in France. Still, the investigation by the Office central de répression de la grande délinquance financière, found 112 bank accounts registered to members of his family. **avenue Rapp, 75007 **villa at Vésinet **rue Marbeuf, 75008 Paris, 7-room apartment *Julienne Sassou Nguesso **bd Saint-Denis, 92400 Courbevoie, 8 rooms, 175m² **bd du Général Koenig, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, 7-room

Hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

with inside swimming pool *Claudia Lemboumba **avenue Victor-Hugo, 75016 Paris, Studio **rue Copernic, 75016 Paris, 6-room apartment with 2 '' chambres de bonne'' **avenue Turgot, 93700 Drancy, France, 6-room house *Maurice Nguesso **rue Poirier-Fourrier, 95100 Argenteuil, 4-room apartment **villa Rochefort, 91000 Évry, France, 3-room apartment **bd Malesherbes, 75008 Paris *Antoinette Tchibo Malonda, wife of Sassou N’Guesso **avenue Niel, 75017 Paris. 9-room apartment, 328m², bought for €2.47 million in 2007 **8 bank accounts (stockbroker and checking accounts) at

Crédit Industriel et Commercial The Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC, "Industrial and Commercial Credit Company") is a bank and financial services group in France, founded in 1859. It has been majority owned by Crédit Mutuel, one of the country's top five banking groups, ...

(CIC) and at the

Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th c ...

, in Paris and Boulogne-Billancourt *Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso **rue de la Tour, 75016 Paris. 10-room with garage and ''chambre de service'' * Claude Wilfrid Etoka, as trustee for Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso : **SARPD Oil, US$500 million *Wilfrid Nguesso : ** Mercedes-Benz S 500, €107,400 ** Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG, €116,000 **

Aston Martin DB9 The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer produced by Aston Martin. Available both in coupé and a convertible bodystyles, the latter being known as the Volante, the DB9 was the successor to the DB7. It was first shown at the 2003 Frankfurt ...

, €172,321 **

Audi Q7 The Audi Q7 is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV made by the German manufacturer Audi, unveiled in September 2005 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Production of this seven-seater SUV began in the autumn of 2005 at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant in ...

, €65,000 **

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

, €95,000 ** Mercedes-Benz G 55 AMG, €90,000 **

Aston Martin DB7 The Aston Martin DB7 is a grand tourer which was produced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin from September 1994 to December 2004. The car was available either as a coupé or a convertible. The prototype was complete by Nov ...

Vantage €77,000 **

BMW X5 The BMW X5 is a mid-size luxury SUV produced by BMW. The X5 made its debut in 1999 as the E53 model. It was BMW's first SUV. At launch, it featured all-wheel drive and was available with either a manual or automatic gearbox. The second generati ...

, €75,800 **

Porsche Cayenne The Porsche Cayenne is a series of mid-size luxury crossover sport utility vehicles manufactured by the German automaker Porsche since 2002 (Type 9PA or E1), with North American sales beginning in 2003. It is the first V8-engined vehicle built b ...

, €67,952 **

Toyota Land Cruiser The (also sometimes spelled as LandCruiser) is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is Toyota's longest running series of models. , the sales of the Land Cruiser totalled more than ...

, €40,000

Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea - Assets seized from the family of

Teodoro Obiang Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (; born 5 June 1942) is an Equatoguinean politician and former military officer who has served as the second president of Equatorial Guinea since August 1979. He is the longest-serving president of any country ev ...

* Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangué -

Vice President of Equatorial Guinea The vice president of Equatorial Guinea is the second highest political position obtainable in Equatorial Guinea. Following the 2011 constitutional reform, there is a provision for two vice presidents who are appointed by the president of Equat ...

and son of President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang. **

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver P ...

, €1,196,000 **Bugatti Veyron, €1,196,000 **Bugatti Veyron, €1,196,000 **

Ferrari Enzo The Enzo Ferrari (Type F140) is a mid-engine sports car manufactured by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari and named after the company's founder, Enzo Ferrari. It was developed in 2002 using Formula One technology, such as a carbon-fi ...

, €675,000 **

Maserati MC12 The Maserati MC12 (''Tipo M144S'') is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with 25 cars produced. ...

, €709,000 ** Maybach 62, €510,479 **

Rolls-Royce Phantom Rolls-Royce has used the Phantom name on full-sized luxury cars over the past century: *Rolls-Royce Phantom I, 1925–1931 *Rolls-Royce Phantom II, 1929–1936 *Rolls-Royce Phantom III, 1936–1939 *Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, 1950&ndash ...

Limousine, €381,000 **

Maserati Coupé The Maserati Coupé and Spyder (''Tipo M138'') are a series of grand tourers produced by Italian automaker Maserati from 2001 to 2007. The two nameplates refer to the four-seater coupé and two-seater convertible models, respectively. The design ...

Cambiocorsa, €82,000 ** Ferrari F512 M, €182,938 **

Ferrari 550 Maranello The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 ...

, €152,201

List of restitutions

This sections is a known list of restitutions made by ''biens mal acquis'' rulings and is incomplete: Switzerland has made several restitutions: * $658 million returned to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 2003 after 17 years of litigation in the Philippines over the estate of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos. * $2.4 million from the

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

an dictator

Moussa Traoré Moussa Traoré (25 September 1936 – 15 September 2020) was a Malian soldier, politician, and dictator who was President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. As a Lieutenant, he led the military ousting of President Modibo Keïta in 1968. Thereafter he ...

. * Switzerland gave back $380 million (£260 million) in restitution to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in March 2015 from the estate of former dictator

, who held much of an embezzled $2.2 billion fortune in Swiss bank accounts in his name. Switzerland had previously returned $700m to Nigeria from Abacha's Swiss accounts in the first restitution of its kind. * $80 million diverted by the family of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

vian president

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator, * * * * * * he remains a ...

, who was convicted of corruption in 2015. Fujimori had already gotten a 25-year-sentence in 2009 for ordering the deaths of twenty people in 2005, and the sentence for embezzlement will run concurrent to his murder sentence(s). The

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

has also returned to Nigeria funds that Sani Abacha had sheltered in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. Following the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

in 2003, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and its allies seized more than $2 billion from the family of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

i dictator

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

, the single largest restitution to date, which was slated to be used to rebuild Iraq..

Current expropriation proceedings

Spain

In May 2009, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

anti-corruption prosecutor requested a money-laundering investigation of the accounts and investments in Spain of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, following a complaint filed in December 2008 by the Asociacion pro derechos humanos de España (APDHE). The association was concerned by a transfer of roughly €19 million between 2000 and 2003 from the US bank

Riggs Bank Riggs Bank was a bank headquartered in Washington, D.C. For most of its history, it was the largest bank headquartered in that city. On May 13, 2005, after the exposure of several money laundering scandals, the bank was acquired by PNC Financia ...

to an account in a Spanish bank in the Balearic Islands.

France

Laws put into effect after the liberation of France in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

targeted illegitimate profits accrued during

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

, in the black market or through simple theft. The ordinances of October 18, 1944 and January 6, 1945, drew inspiration from the following principle: "The most elementary fiscal justice requires that all gains made possible by the presence of the enemy be returned to the public treasury. It is unacceptable that while the nation became impoverished some enriched themselves at its expense." Citing this precedent, in March 2007 Survie, the Sherpa Association and the Fédération des Congolais de la Diaspora filed charges of conspiracy and concealment of diversion of funds in the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris against five heads of African states and their families: *Omar Bongo Ondimba (Gabon), *Denis Sassou Nguesso (Republic of Congo) *

Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

(

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

) * Eduardo Dos Santos (

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

) *Teodoro Obiang (Equatorial Guinea) The three

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

organizations suspected these heads or former heads of state of buying up a surprising number of luxury real estate assets in France, and of holding banking assets in French banks and/or foreign banks doing business in France. An investigation opened in June 2007 was characterized as insufficiently detailed and suspended in November 2007. The French newspaper ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' obtained transcripts for the hearing into whether to pursue the investigation and in January 2008 published a list of dozens of real estate properties owned by family members of Sassou Nguesso and Omar Bongo in Paris and in the south of France, some of them worth millions of euros. Maître William Bourdon of Survie, the plaintiffs' legal representation, denounced the decision to close the case as "astounding" (''ahurissant'') The family of Omar Bongo Ondimba, according to the ''Le Monde'' hearing transcripts, owned 33 apartments or houses including a ''hôtel particulier'' in Paris worth more than €18 million. The ''hôtel particulier'' was purchased in June 2007 by a real estate company associated with two children of the Gabonese president, then aged 13 and 16. The family of Sassou Nguesso owned at least 18 apartments or houses in France. In Gabon, an association christened ''Touche pas à mon président'' (Don't touch my president) was formed in July 2008 to protest the NGOs denouncing the real estate assets of Omar Bongo. On December 2, 2008,

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

France, the Sherpa Association, and a Gabonese citizen named Grégory Ngbwa Mintsa filed new charges against Omar Bongo, Denis Sassou Nguesso and Teodoro Obiang as well as their entourages, of concealing the embezzlement of public funds. Patrick Maisonneuve, the lawyer for Omar Bongo, announced the same day that a defamation complaint would be filed based on the allegations of embezzlement, intimidation and corruption, but as of May 2009 no such complaint had been filed. On December 5 Congolese government spokesman Alain Akouala Atipault announced that the Congo had filed a complaint in the Tribunal de grande instance of Paris against Transparency International France and Sherpa. "I have simply decided that my lawyer in Paris will pursue these gentlemen (TI and Sherpa), who are in reality a few bourgeois in

Neuilly Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as we ...

who may never even have set foot in the Congo", declared Sassou Nguesso. On December 31, 2008, Grégory Ngbwa Mintsa, a party to the complaint in France, was questioned and imprisoned for "possession of a document with intent to distribute it for propaganda purposes" and "oral or written propaganda with intent to incite revolt against the authorities," with, on January 7, three leaders of a Gabonese NGO and a journalist as a result of a complaint filed by Fondation Omar Bongo. On January 8, Thierry Lévy, lawyer for the Gabonese, was prevented by the border police at Roissy Airport in Paris from boarding a plane for a flight to Libreville, his four-day

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

having been cancelled by the Gabonese authorities "for security reasons". The conditional release of the four on January 12 was accompanied by a ''mandat de dépôt''. January 20, 2009 the Congolese journalist Bruno Ossébi, who had expressed the intention of joining the complaint, was the victim of a fire at his home in Brazzaville where he, his girlfriend and her two children died in the fire. Bruno Ossébi suffered second-degree burns but had been recovering when he died suddenly February 2 in Brazzaville. According to Reporters without Borders, who said it was "probable" that the fire was a deliberate attack, Ossḗbi had three days earlier published an article on the online news site Mwinga alleging that the national petroleum corporation, managed by the president's son, had approached a French bank about a $100 million loan secured by its oil production, in contravention of Congo's pledges to the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

. He had made contact with the Stolen Goods Recovery Initiative at the World Bank, just two days earlier. The day after Ossébi's death, a fire also broke out at the

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Nicolas Sarkozy to the Republic of the Congo at the end of March. May 5, 2009, the most senior investigating judge in Paris, Françoise Desset, agreed to hear the case, a decision the prosecutor appealed. On October 29, 2009, the Paris court of appeal upheld the Ministry and found that Transparency International lacked standing. Following the association's appeal the French

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

, the court of final appeal, on November 9, 2010, found that Transparency International could participate in the suit, henceforth allowing a French examining magistrate to investigate. A February 2011 alert from Tracfin, the money-laundering unit of the French finance ministry, mentioned a purchase by Obiang's son of €18 million worth of

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

in February 2009 alone. On October 6, 2011, Transparency International France and Sherpa Association announced a new complaint in civil court to circumvent the block by the prosecutor's office, which had been refusing an indictment needed for the examining magistrates to deal with new facts discovered in the course of their investigation. On July 12, 2012, the examining magistrates in charge of the investigation issued an international arrest warrant for Teodorin Nguema Obiang following his refusal to appear. For Maud Perdriel-Vaissière, director of Sherpa, this step demonstrated "the seriousness of the allegations Sherpa has been making from the first ..and show that nobody should believe themselves above law. From now on, immunity is no longer a synonym of impunity". March 19, 2014 the juges d'instruction of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris indicted Teodorin Nguema Obiang for money-laundering.

Monaco

On March 30, 2009,

opened an investigation into accounts in the name of Édith Bongo, who died March 14, 2009. Bongo was suspected of having acted as nominee in several banking establishments for both her husband and father, the presidents of Gabon and Republic of the Congo, respectively, in order to mask assets obtained with diverted funds. The investigation was opened following a letter from the Sherpa Association to Prince Albert II and to the prosecutor of Monaco, requesting an investigation and the freezing of Édith Bongo's financial assets in Monaco.

Switzerland

On April 30, 2009, Switzerland extended the freezing of 8.3 million Swiss francs in an account in Mobutu Sese Seko,'s name, originally instituted on May 17, 1997. On February 12, 2009, the federal office of the Swiss justice system ordered the restitution to Haiti of 7 million Swiss francs (€4.6 million) frozen in Swiss bank accounts since 1986, to finance development projects. Former Haitian dictator

Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" ( ht, Bebe Dòk), was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father ...

filed an appeal of this decision on March 19, 2009.Genève (AWP/AFP) http://www.romandie.com/infos/news2/200903191912040AWPCH.asp

References

{{Reflist, 30em Corruption French criminal law International law