RM1.15 billion yacht for dictator's son
The son of Equatorial Guinea's dictator of 30 years commissioned plans to build a superyacht costing $380 million (RM1.15 billion), nearly three times what the country spends on health and education each year, a corruption watchdog said on Monday.
Global Witness said in a statement that German company Kusch Yachts has been asked to build the yacht, housing a cinema, restaurant , bar and swimming pool, though construction has not yet started.
Global Witness has been urging Washington to institute sanctions against Teodorin Obiang, whose extravagant lifestyle currently includes a $35 million (RM106.8 million) mansion in Malibu, California , a $33 million (RM100 million) jet and a fleet of luxury cars, while earning a salary of $6,799 (RM20,747) a month as the country's agriculture minister.
The government press office in Equatorial Guinea confirmed that the president's son had ordered the yacht design, but said he "then dismissed the idea of buying it" .
It said that if the order had gone ahead, he would have bought it with income from private business activities and not "with funds derived from sources of illegal financing or corruption".
President Teodoro Obiang, who reportedly is grooming his son to succeed him as president, took power in a bloody 1979 coup.
Forbes magazine has estimated his wealth at around $600 million (RM1.83 billion).
Teodorin Obiang justified his wealth in a sworn affidavit to a South African court questioning his ownership of luxury mansions and expensive cars in Cape Town in 2006.
He stated that public officials in his country are allowed to partner with foreign companies bidding for government contracts and said this means "a cabinet minister ends up with a sizable part of the contract price in his bank account".
A US justice department investigation into US banks accepting some $75 million from Teodorin Obiang had said in a 2007 report that "it is suspected that a large portion of Teodoro Nguema Obiang's assets have originated from extortion, theft of public funds, or other corrupt conduct".
Source: AP
Published Mar 1 2011
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