These searches take place within the framework of a judgment on a case of illegal arrest and torture of a South African businessman. Oleksandr / stock.adobe.com
A yacht and two properties belonging to the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea have been seized in South Africa as part of a judgment in a case of the unlawful arrest and torture of a South African businessman, said the latter’s lawyer on Monday.
“Two houses were seized in Cape Town two weeks ago and a luxury yacht last TuesdayErrol Eldson, the lawyer for South African businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg, told AFP on Monday. The two properties in upscale Cape Town and the 67m boat moored in the coastal town are to be auctioned off.
Detention and torture
In 2021, a South African court sentenced Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice-president and son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to pay more than 2 million euros (40 million rand) in damages. to Daniel Janse van Rensburg. The latter had filed a complaint for having been illegally detained and tortured for 491 days in a prison in the small oil-rich Central African country.
The businessman had obtained a contract in Equatorial Guinea “to create an airline“, according to his lawyer. While “planes were ready to fly“, the Equatoguinean politician who had hired him, Gabriel Angabi, did an about-face by declaring that he wanted to cancel the project and claim reimbursement, according to the lawyer.
The South African not being able to repay, Gabriel Angabi “picked up the phone and called Vice President Obiang. Within ten minutes the rapid response forces were there“said the lawyer. “They took Daniel and threw him in Black Beach Jailin the capital Malabo. “What was supposed to be a short business trip to Equatorial Guinea turned into a descent into hellwrote Daniel Janse van Rensburg in a September 2022 book about the 2013 case.
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Contacted by AFP, the vice-president’s lawyer declined to comment. Equatorial Guinea has been ruled since 1979 by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The regime is accused of suppressing all opposition and blamed for endemic corruption.
The president’s son was sentenced in 2021 in France to a suspended prison sentence and a fine of 30 million euros, as well as the confiscation of his luxurious heritage in the context of the “ill-gotten gains“.
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