Dear Johan Droz, Office of the Attorney General
of canton Geneva;
 |
| FOTO: INTERNET |
We, the undersigned
Equatoguinean and international human rights and
anti-corruption organizations write with grave concern and dismay at a recent
decision by the Office Attorney General of Switzerland to settle a case against
the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea and current Vice President,
Teodoro Nguema Obiang (know as Teodorin).
We welcome the concerns raised by Swiss
Parliamentary representatives to the reputational risk Switzerland faces for
returning a luxury Yacht to a ‘violent’ kleptocratic regime; as well as their
request for clarification in understanding the Swiss decision.
The Office of the Attorney General decided to
hand over to Teodorin a $120 million USD yacht, in exchange for him paying $1.5
million in legal fees and having the proceeds from the sale of 25 luxury cars –
including a Bugatti Veyron valued at $2.2 million USD and a Swedish-made
Koenigsegg One:1 valued at a base price of $2.8 million USD – to be used on
‘social programs’ in Equatorial Guinea, the parameters of which remain unclear to the people of Equatorial
Guinea, the intended beneficiaries of the arrangement. No assets should be returned to kleptocrats, and in
this case the Swiss authorities must ensure that funds are restituted through
well-designed and monitored social programs for the benefit of the people in
Equatorial Guinea.
Our organizations strongly believe that the
decision of the Geneva Attorney General amounts to a win for the Obiang regime in
general, and in particular, for Vice-President Teodorin Nguema Obiang. De facto it leads to amnesty and prevents
a criminal investigation or civil charges against a known kleptocrat who,
according to investigations by law enforcement authorities in South Africa,
Brazil, France and the USA, has plundered the national wealth of Equatorial
Guinea through relentless embezzlement and extortion. Furthermore, this
decision – a soft slap on the wrist of a compulsive spendthrift – deprives the Equatoguinean
people of justice, as it legitimizes the regime's impunity. Moreover, it
provides a green light for other kleptocrats to abuse the financial
institutions and laws of Switzerland to facilitate their lavish lifestyle while
the majority of people in their countries live in abject poverty.
Teodorin has consistently demonstrated his disregard
of judicial proceedings against him globally, and asserted himself as above the
law. On numerous occasions, the government of Equatorial Guinea has audaciously
portrayed Teodorin’s ill-gotten assets as property of the Equatoguinean State
in order to deflect corruption and embezzlement charges against him. This
facade was evidenced in the French case against Teodorin for embezzlement and money laundering charges.
The government of Equatorial Guinea attempted to derail the case by filing
precautionary measures before the International Court of Justice, claiming
breach of immunity given Teodorin’s position as Vice-president, and declaring
Teodorin’s mansion in Paris a diplomatic residence, after it had been raided by
the police.
The US Department of Justice concluded that
Teodorin used his position in government to divert millions of Dollars in
public funds and extorted illegal fees to his personal bank accounts. It found
that “after raking in millions in bribes and kickbacks, Nguema
Obiang embarked on a corruption-fueled spending spree in the United States”.
French investigators similarly concluded that Teodorin
amassed artwork, jewelry and properties in France, including a mansion worth
approximately 100 million Euros, with proceeds from corruption. In retaliation,
the government of Equatorial Guinea recently issued an arrest warrant against
William Bourdon and Daniel Lebegue; respectively, the lawyer leading the case
in France against Teodorin, and the former chair of the board of Transparency
International-France, the anti-corruption organization that brought the case.
Yet, despite the ample damning evidence of
brazen corruption against Teodorin in the US and France, and despite the ongoing corruption
investigations against the Obiang family in Brazil and Spain, the Swiss Attorney
General decided to turn a blind eye. This is a decision we – the undersigned
organizations – believe raises severe concerns about the integrity of the Swiss decision-making process and what
the Swiss authorities deemed ‘sufficient’ to ‘repair the damage’ caused by Teodorin to the people
of Equatorial Guinea.
With
worrying consistency, most recently in Kazakh II and now Equatorial Guinea, the
Swiss authorities have shown a willingness to sidestep their commitment to the
Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles and responsible asset return.
In particular, Principle 9 which precludes “benefit to offenders.”
We strongly feel that the Swiss Attorney
General’s settlement falls short in remediating the harm caused to victims of
corruption and sends a dangerous message to kleptocrats around the world. Thus,
we urge you to revise the settlement agreement with the government of
Equatorial Guinea. Concretely, we urge you to take all necessary steps to avoid
causing inadvertent harm to intended beneficiaries and ensure ‘stolen assets
recovered from corrupt officials should benefit the people of the nations
harmed by the underlying corrupt conduct’ (Principle 5, GFAR Principles). We
urge you to ensure that neither Teodorin nor his family benefit or retain de
facto control over the disposition of the funds (Principle 9, GFAR Principles).
Furthermore, Switzerland’s ‘Policy on Asset Recovery’
requires that every repatriated asset must follow the principles of
transparency and accountability (objective 14) to ensure that recovered assets
are not used again for illicit purposes. The assets must be directed to improve
the living conditions of the asset’s country of origin and strengthen the rule
of law. In this case the undersigning organizations urge the Office of the
Attorney General in Geneva to carefully define the process for restitution, the
type of projects, partners to be responsible for implementation and a clear
monitoring process.
For this reason, we recommend that the Swiss
government:
●
Coordinates with the United States
and France about asset repatriation to Equatorial Guinea, in particular
exploring the possibility of agreeing on a joint process
●
Maintains a transparent,
accountable and audited process in choosing a third party that will manage the
repatriated funds
●
Ensure Equatoguinean civil society
is involved henceforth in the decision-making process to determine how assets
should be returned, for what purpose and by whom, in a transparent and
accountable manner (Principle 10, GFAR principles)
●
Implement effective protections to
prevent government or private reprisals against any potential beneficiaries of
the agreement
●
Devise a responsible asset return
framework which operationalises the GFAR principles and, in particular, is
driven by a need to remediate the harm caused to victims of corruption in
Equatorial Guinea (Principle 6, GFAR principles).
Sincerely,
· EG Justice
· ADISI Cameroon
· African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Nigeria
· Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA)
· Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International Nigeria
· Civil Forum for Asset Recovery (CiFAR)
· Corruption Watch UK
· Global Witness
· HEDA Resource Centre, Nigeria
· International State Crime Initiative (ISCI), Queen Mary University of
London and Ulster University
· Sassoufit – Congo Brazzaville
· Transparency International Ireland
· UNCAC Coalition
· Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights (UGF)
