South African officers have seized a superyacht and two palatial houses owned by Equatorial’s Guinea’s Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang.
A court docket ordered the seizures after native businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg gained a legislation swimsuit towards Obiang for illegal arrest and torture.
He has demanded compensation of about $2.2m (£1.8m).
He says he was unlawfully detained in Equatorial Guinea for about 500 days after a enterprise deal went flawed.
The vice-president, the son of the world’s longest-serving ruler, has not but commented on the case.
He and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo have lengthy been accused of seeing oil-rich Equatorial Guinea as their private fiefdom, and of abusing its wealth and assets.
That is the newest in a string of rulings issued towards him by courts world wide.
“We connected two homes… in Cape City in a proper utility two weeks in the past and the superyacht final Tuesday,” lawyer Errol Eldson, who’s representing the businessman, advised AFP information company.
An utility to public sale the property had been filed, he added.
Mr Van Rensburg has waged a prolonged authorized battle towards the vice-president within the South African courts, and printed a ebook final 12 months on how a enterprise journey to Equatorial Guinea in 2013 “turned into a journey to the depths of hell” following his “harrowing incarceration” on the infamous Black Seaside jail
Mr Eldson advised AFP that his consumer had arrange an airline in Equatorial Guinea with an area politician however he withdrew from the enterprise on the final minute and demanded a monetary refund.
The dispute led to the politician phoning Vice-President Obiang and “inside 10 minutes” an elite safety pressure unit “picked Daniel up and threw him into Black Seaside jail”, the lawyer was quoted as saying.
Obiang is extensively seen as being groomed by his father – who has been in energy for 43 years – to succeed him.
Final month, he ordered his half-brother’s arrest over the sale of a jet.
His half-brother was alleged to have pocketed the proceeds of the sale. He has not publicly commented on the allegations.
The vice-president – recognized for his lavish way of life – has additionally had his personal brushes with the legislation.
In 2014, US authorities seized a $30m mansion in Malibu and different property, included a Ferrari automobile, saying that they had been introduced with the proceeds of corruption.
Two years later, Swiss prosecutors seized 11 luxurious automobiles belonging to him. The automobiles – amongst them a Bugatti, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Rolls Royce – had been bought at an public sale for about $27m.
He was additionally fined and handed a suspended sentence by a French court docket in 2021 for utilizing public cash to fund an opulent way of life within the European nation. He denied wrongdoing.
In the identical 12 months, the UK imposed “anti-corruption” corruption sanctions on him.
Officers stated he had a set of Michael Jackson memorabilia, together with a $275,000 crystal-covered glove which the late singer had worn on his Nineteen Eighties Unhealthy tour.
The UK stated the brand new sanctions focused people who had “lined their very own pockets on the expense of their residents”.