A collection of luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea ’s vice president Teodorin Obiang Nguema will be auctioned off in Switzerland on Sunday and are estimated to bring in 18 . 5 million Swiss francs ( $18 .7 m ) .
“This is an exceptional sale ,” Philip Kantor , of British auctioneers Bonhams , told AFP . “It’ s a private collection of super cars, with very low mileage .
Among the cars to go under the hammer at a Geneva golf club are seven Ferraris , three Lamborghinis , five Bentleys , a Maserati and a McLaren .
The most expensive lots are a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster , valued at between € 4 .8 m and €5 .7 m ( $ 5 .2 m or $ 6. 2m ) and yellow Ferrari hybrid at between € 2 .4m to €2 .6 m .
The cars were all confiscated by Swiss justice after the opening in 2016 of a financial wrongdoing case against Obiang , son and likely heir of Equatorial Guinea ’s authoritarian President Teodoro Obiang Nguema who has ruled for 40 years . All will be sold with no reserve price .
In February , Swiss prosecutors said they were dropping charges of financial wrongdoing against Teodorin Obiang Nguema but were confiscating the luxury cars as part of the case .
Under the Swiss penal code , prosecutors can choose to drop charges in this category if defendants offer compensation “and restore a situation that is in conformity with the law .”
Playboy reputation
Equatorial Guinea has also agreed to give Geneva 1 .3 million Swiss francs to cover the costs of the case .
As vice president with responsibility for defence and security, Teodorin Obiang has a reputation for a playboy lifestyle .
In October 2017, a Paris court handed him a three – year suspended jail term after convicting Obiang of siphoning off public money to buy assets in France .
He was accused of spending more than 1 ,000 times his official annual salary on a six – storey mansion in a posh part of the French capital, a fleet of fast cars and artworks , among other assets .
He was also given a suspended fine of € 30 m .
In September , Brazilian media said that more than $ 16 m in cash and luxury watches were seized by Brazilian Police and customs officers from luggage of a delegation accompanying Obiang on a private visit .
Brazilian daily , O Estado de Sao Paulo, quoted a diplomatic source from Equatorial Guinea as saying the money was to pay for medical treatment Obiang was to undergo in Sao Paulo.
The watches were for the “personal use ” of the president’ s son and were engraved with his initials, the report said .
Obiang is reputedly on a fast track to succeed his father .
Last October , he was promoted from colonel directly to division general , without passing through the normal intermediary rank of brigade general .
The following month , he presided over a cabinet meeting for the first time .
The tiny West African nation is one of the continent ’s top petroleum producers and has a population of just 1 .2 million .
The country is regularly cited by NGOs as one of the most corrupt in the world.
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