Biens mal acquis
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Biens mal acquis (
Examples of biens mal acquis are government funds from former colonies of Françafrique that were spent on luxurious lifestyles and investment real estate in France. The doctrine has since been used in similar cases filed in Spain, Switzerland and Monaco, and against the Marcos family and the estate of Sani Abacha.
Terminology
The phrase biens mal acquis is derived from the French
Biens mal acquis was originally used in France for anti-corruption legal proceedings filed in its own
The Belgian
List of assets seized
This section is a list of known assets successfully seized through biens mal acquis rulings and is incomplete:
Gabon
Gabonese president
- Audrey Blanche Bongo Odimba
- rue de Longchamp, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine
- 500m² 4-room apartment with garage and basement
- Édith Lucie Sassou - wife of President Omar Bongo from 1990 to 2009, daughter of Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo.
- avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, 4-room apartment
- avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, 4-room apartment, 342m²
- avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, 4 room apartment, 284m²
- rue du Mont-Boron, Nice, France
- Chairperson of the Commission of the African Unionfrom 2008 to 2012, formerly married to Omar Bongo's eldest daughter, Pascaline.
- rue Quentin-Bauchart, 75008 Paris
- avenue d’Italie, 75013 Paris
- Jeff Thierry Arsène Jaffar Bongo Ondimba - son of President Ali Bongo Ondimba
- Aix-en-Provence, 125m² apartment with 13 garages, purchased 2005, value €1.24 million[7]
- Villeneuve-Loubet, house
- avenue Raymond-Poincarré, 75016 Paris, 4-room apartment
- also: 2 apartments in downtown Nice, 100 and 170 m2, three houses just off the Promenade des Anglais[7]
- Omar Ben Bongo - father of President Ali Bongo
- bd Lannes, 75016 Paris, 7-room apartment
- Omar Bongo Ondimba - President of Gabon since October 2009
- bd Frédéric-Sterling, Nice France, 8-room house, 215m²
- bd Frédéric-Sterling, Nice France, 7-room apartment, 170 m2 [8]
- bd Frédéric-Sterling Nice, France, 6-room apartment, 100m²[8]
- rue Edmond-Valentin, 75007 Paris,
- avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 4-room apartment
- avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 3-room apartment, 88m²
- avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 5-room apartment, 210m²
- avenue Foch, 75016 Paris, 9-room apartment, 365 m2
- bd Flandrin, 75016 Paris
- rue de Longchamp, 75016 Paris
- avenue Raymond-Poincaré, 75016 Paris
- rue Leroux, 75016 Paris
- rue Laurent-Pichat, 75016 Paris, apartment, 219m²
- Omar Bongo - President of Gabon from 1967 to 2009, father of current President Omar Bongo Ondimba.
- rue de la Tremoille, 75008 Paris
- rue de la Faisanderie, 75016 Paris
- allée des Feuillantines, 94000 Villejuif, France
- Yacine Queenie Bongo Odimba
- rue de la Baume, 75008 Paris, hôtel particulier
- bd Lannes, 75016 Paris
- bd Suchet, 75016 Paris
- Denis Sassou Nguesso declares that he does not have a bank account in his name in France. Still, the investigation by the Office central de répression de la grande délinquance financière, found 112 bank accounts registered to members of his family.
- avenue Rapp, 75007
- villa at Vésinet
- rue Marbeuf, 75008 Paris, 7-room apartment
- Julienne Sassou Nguesso
- bd Saint-Denis, 92400 Courbevoie, 8 rooms, 175m²
- bd du Général Koenig, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, 7-room Hôtel particulier with inside swimming pool
- Claudia Lemboumba
- avenue Victor-Hugo, 75016 Paris, Studio
- rue Copernic, 75016 Paris, 6-room apartment with 2 chambres de bonne
- avenue Turgot, 93700 Drancy, France, 6-room house
- Maurice Nguesso
- rue Poirier-Fourrier, 95100 Argenteuil, 4-room apartment
- villa Rochefort, 91000 Évry, France, 3-room apartment
- bd Malesherbes, 75008 Paris
- Antoinette Tchibo Malonda, wife of Sassou N’Guesso
- avenue Niel, 75017 Paris. 9-room apartment, 328m², bought for €2.47 million in 2007[9]
- 8 bank accounts (stockbroker and checking accounts) at Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC) and at the Crédit Lyonnais, in Paris and Boulogne-Billancourt[10]
- Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso
- rue de la Tour, 75016 Paris. 10-room with garage and chambre de service
- Claude Wilfrid Etoka, as trustee for Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso :
- SARPD Oil, US$500 million
- Wilfrid Nguesso :
- Mercedes-Benz S 500, €107,400
- Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG, €116,000
- Aston Martin DB9, €172,321[11]
- Audi Q7, €65,000
- Land Rover, €95,000
- Mercedes-Benz G 55 AMG, €90,000
- Aston Martin DB7 Vantage €77,000
- BMW X5, €75,800
- Porsche Cayenne, €67,952
- Toyota Land Cruiser, €40,000
- President of Equatorial GuineaTeodoro Obiang.
- Bugatti Veyron, €1,196,000
- Bugatti Veyron, €1,196,000
- Bugatti Veyron, €1,196,000
- Ferrari Enzo, €675,000
- Maserati MC12, €709,000
- Maybach 62, €510,479
- Rolls-Royce Phantom Limousine, €381,000
- Maserati Coupé Cambiocorsa, €82,000
- Ferrari F512 M, €182,938
- Ferrari 550 Maranello, €152,201
Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo - Assets seized from the family of Denis Sassou Nguesso[6]
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea - Assets seized from the family of Teodoro Obiang[6]
List of restitutions
This sections is a known list of restitutions made by biens mal acquis rulings and is incomplete:
Switzerland has made several restitutions:
- $658 million returned to the litigation in the Philippines over the estate of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos.[12]
- $2.4 million from the Malian dictator Moussa Traoré.[13]
- Switzerland gave back $380 million (£260 million) in restitution to Nigeria in March 2015 from the estate of former dictator Sani Abacha, who held much of an embezzled $2.2 billion fortune in Swiss bank accounts in his name.[14] Switzerland had previously returned $700m to Nigeria from Abacha's Swiss accounts in the first restitution of its kind.[14]
- $80 million diverted by the family of Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who was convicted of corruption in 2015. Fujimori had already gotten a 25-year-sentence in 2009 for ordering the deaths of twenty people in 2005, and the sentence for embezzlement will run concurrent to his murder sentence(s).[15]
The United Kingdom has also returned to Nigeria funds that Sani Abacha had sheltered in Jersey in the Channel Islands.[16]
Following the Iraq War in 2003, the United States and its allies seized more than $2 billion from the family of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the single largest restitution to date, which was slated to be used to rebuild Iraq.[dubious ].
Current expropriation proceedings
Spain
In May 2009, the Spanish anti-corruption prosecutor requested a money-laundering investigation of the accounts and investments in Spain of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, following a complaint filed in December 2008 by the Asociacion pro derechos humanos de España (APDHE). The association was concerned by a transfer of roughly €19 million between 2000 and 2003 from the US bank Riggs Bank to an account in a Spanish bank in the Balearic Islands.[17]
France
It is unacceptable that while the nation became impoverished some enriched themselves at her expense
Laws put into effect after the liberation of France in the
Citing this precedent, in March 2007 Survie, the Sherpa Association and the Fédération des Congolais de la Diaspora filed charges of conspiracy and concealment of diversion of funds in the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris against five heads of African states and their families:
- Omar Bongo Ondimba (Gabon),
- Denis Sassou Nguesso (Republic of Congo)
- Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso)
- Eduardo Dos Santos (Angola)
- Teodoro Obiang (Equatorial Guinea)
The three
On December 2, 2008, Transparency International France, the Sherpa Association, and a Gabonese citizen named Grégory Ngbwa Mintsa filed new charges against Omar Bongo, Denis Sassou Nguesso and Teodoro Obiang as well as their entourages, of concealing the embezzlement of public funds.
January 20, 2009 the Congolese journalist
May 5, 2009, the most senior investigating judge in Paris, Françoise Desset, agreed to hear the case, a decision the prosecutor appealed.[34][35] On October 29, 2009, the Paris court of appeal upheld the Ministry and found that Transparency International lacked standing. Following the association's appeal the French Court of Cassation, the court of final appeal, on November 9, 2010, found that Transparency International could participate in the suit, henceforth allowing a French examining magistrate to investigate.[36]
A February 2011 alert from Tracfin, the money-laundering unit of the French finance ministry, mentioned a purchase by Obiang's son of €18 million worth of fine art in February 2009 alone. On October 6, 2011, Transparency International France and Sherpa Association announced a new complaint in civil court to circumvent the block by the prosecutor's office, which had been refusing an indictment needed for the examining magistrates to deal with new facts discovered in the course of their investigation. On July 12, 2012, the examining magistrates in charge of the investigation issued an international arrest warrant for Teodorin Nguema Obiang following his refusal to appear. For Maud Perdriel-Vaissière, director of Sherpa, this step demonstrated "the seriousness of the allegations Sherpa has been making from the first [...] and show that nobody should believe themselves above law. From now on, immunity is no longer a synonym of impunity".[37]
March 19, 2014 the juges d'instruction of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris indicted Teodorin Nguema Obiang for money-laundering.
Monaco
On March 30, 2009,
Switzerland
On April 30, 2009, Switzerland extended the freezing of 8.3 million Swiss francs in an account in Mobutu Sese Seko,'s name, originally instituted on May 17, 1997.[40] On February 12, 2009, the federal office of the Swiss justice system ordered the restitution to Haiti of 7 million Swiss francs (€4.6 million) frozen in Swiss bank accounts since 1986, to finance development projects. Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier filed an appeal of this decision on March 19, 2009.[41]
See also
References
- ^ Antoine Dulin; Jean Merckaert (June 2009). Catherine Gaudard (ed.). "Biens mal acquis: à qui profite le crime?" (PDF) (in French). CCFD-Terre Solidaire. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ "Rapport Biens mal acquis... profitent trop souvent!". Archived from the original on 2010-01-26. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
- ^ "Mobutu dies in exile in Morocco: Ruled Zaire with iron grip for 3 decades". CNN. September 7, 1997.
- ^ "Les biens mal acquis des dictateurs africains". Survie. October 1, 2007.
- ^ "Ces palais qui se vendent plus de 100 millions d'euros à Paris". April 13, 2011.
- ^ a b c Data published by La Tribune December 3, 2008, and originating from the investigation of the OCRGDF following the March 2007 complaint brought by three French non-profits.
- ^ a b "Enquête sur la fortune de trois présidents africains: International: La Justice française enquête sur le train de vie des chefs d'état du Congo, du Gabon et de la Guinée équatoriale". ladepeche.fr (in French). July 5, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ a b "Le scandale des palaces provençaux du clan Bongo". Le Guide de la Provence. June 9, 2009.
- ^ "image". Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
- ^ "Subpoena: Antoinette Tchibo Malonda bank accounts". Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
- ^ "image". Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
- ISBN 978-3039115839. Retrieved June 1, 2016 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Moussa Traore". Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative. World Bank. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ^ a b David Smith (March 15, 2015). "Switzerland to return Sani Abacha 'loot' money to Nigeria: European banks held the bulk of up to $2.2bn which the Nigerian dictator stole from his country during his five-year rule". The Guardian. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ^ William Neumann (January 8, 2015). "Peru: Jailed Ex-President Is Convicted of Corruption". World Briefing. New York Times. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
- ^ Leah McGrath Goodman (February 1, 2014). "THE BIG READ: The dark side of a golden isle". Irish Examiner.
- ^ "Angola Press - Afrique - le parquet espagnol pour une enquête sur les comptes du président Obiang". Archived from the original on 2009-05-27. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
- ^
Renaud de Rochebrune; Jean-Claude Hazera (March 21, 2013). Les patrons sous l'Occupation. Odile Jacob. p. 328. ISBN 978-2738129383.
- ^ "Dictateurs africains: biens mal acquis, pas poursuivis" [African dictators: Ill-gotten goods, not pursued]. Rue89 Droit de suite (in French). 2007-11-27. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ^
"Biens mal acquis: le parquet refuse d'étendre l'enquête" [Court Refuses to Continue Investigation]. Le Nouvel Observateur. Agence France-Presse.
- ^ "Avenue Foch, j'achète !". Le Monde.fr. 3 December 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ "Crédits, assurances, placements". Retrieved 2 July 2016.[dead link]
- ^ [1][permanent dead link]
- ^ "Patrimoine. Les plaignants sont des "bourgeois de Neuilly" (Sassou Nguesso)". AFP. 10 December 2008.
- ^ Gabon: Archived 2012-08-03 at archive.today Des responsables d'ONG arrêtés jdd.fr 6 janvier 2009
- ^ [2] Arrestations au Gabon : Me Levy empêché de se rendre à Libreville rue89.com 8 janvier 2009
- ^ "Gaboneco.com - Gabon : Les leaders d'ONG en liberté provisoire". Archived from the original on 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
- ^ "Françafrique: incendies chez des opposants congolais Témoignage Chrétien". January 29, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11.
- ^ a b c d Philippe Bernard (September 7, 2009). "La mort mystérieuse d'un journaliste franco-congolais à Brazzaville". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ^ http://mobile.lemonde.fr/depeche/38342050.html[permanent dead link]
- ^ Reporters without Borders (July 9, 2009). "Report of investigation into Franco-Congolese journalist's death". Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ^ Plaintes, menaces: l'enquête qui affole Omar Bongo et d'autres dirigeants africains Médiapart.fr
- ^ "Comment le Parquet tente de sauver Bongo - République bananière" [How the Parquey tries to save Bongo -- Banana Republic]. Retrieved 2 July 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ John Lichfield (May 7, 2009). "Paris judge to examine African leaders' finances". The Independent. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
- ^ Dépêche AFP 5 mai 2009
- ^ "Biens mal acquis: décision de la Cour de Cassation le 9 novembre". 26 October 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ "Mandat d'arrêt contre le fils du président de Guinée équatoriale". LeMonde.fr. 13 July 2012.
- ^ "Omar Bongo's wife Edith dies in Morocco". France 24. March 15, 2009.
- ^ Dépêche AFP 31 mars 2009 Ouverture d'une enquête sur des comptes qui appartiendraient à Edith Bongo à Monaco https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5geKpOB0CMoEoHW3rkVS6XtSMlNeQ
- ^ "La Suisse prolonge à nouveau le gel des avoirs de Mobutu - JeuneAfrique.com". 25 February 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ Genève (AWP/AFP) http://www.romandie.com/infos/news2/200903191912040AWPCH.asp Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine