Equatorial Guinea urges UN court to block the sale of confiscated Paris mansion

Lawyers for Equatorial Guinea accused France of “neo-colonial” behavior on Tuesday, urging United Nations judges to block the sale of a mansion on one of Paris’ poshest avenues in the latest instalment in a long-running legal tug-of-war over the multimillion-dollar property.

The African country filed a case at the International Court of Justice in 2022, alleging France is violating international law by refusing to return assets seized during a corruption investigation into Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president.

France’s approach “may be described as paternalistic and even neo-colonial. We cannot accept such disdain for our sovereignty from France," Carmelo Nvono-Ncá, Equatorial Guinea’s agent, told The Hague-based court.

Equatorial Guinea has asked the court for a series of urgent orders, known as provisional measures, to return the swanky mansion on one of Paris’s most prestigious streets, Avenue Foch, and to prevent France from selling the building.

Suspended sentence

Obiang was convicted in 2017, and given a three-year suspended sentence for embezzling millions of dollars in public money. French authorities seized money, luxury vehicles and the building, which boasts a hammam, a cinema and a night club.

In 2020, the International Court of Justice ruled that the building was a private residence, not a diplomatic outpost, rejecting a claim from Equatorial Guinea that the seizure violated international law.

Equatorial Guinea returned to The Hague in 2022, arguing the French government was obliged to return the assets based on a UN anti-corruption convention.