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Bongo, Sassou-Nguesso, Obiang: The three African heads of state are they in France of "ill-gotten gains? They have embezzled public funds to buy properties and luxury cars? In Paris, justice must soon decide on the follow-up to the complaint filed against the trio. An explosive issue for the oil-producing countries.
BMA. Three angry letters. BMA for "ill-gotten gains." The rest is proverbial - "do not ..." - And has three African leaders suspected of embezzling public funds to acquire dozens of homes and luxury vehicles in France: Ondimba Omar Bongo (Gabon), Denis Sassou-Nguesso (Congo-Brazzaville) and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo ( Equatorial Guinea).
The inventory of the property in question is so long that it would be green with envy of many real estate agents and car dealers.
As for the list of beneficiaries, confine it in the Who's Who of West African presidents in addition to already mentioned, there are wives, daughters, son, nephews, sons-in-law of presidents ... In short, a gathering enough statement to panic the Quai d'Orsay, and mobilize the Elysée irritate the trio in question, urged that the French courts to end this procedure widely publicized.
The decision will not delay the Parisian magistrate Françoise Desset will decide in early March on the follow-up to the complaint filed in Paris in December 2008 for "concealment of embezzling public funds, money laundering, abuse of social good, breach of trust and complicity. "
If the judge considers the complaint inadmissible, the case will enter a tunnel to the procedural outcome is uncertain. If, however, considers it to be admissible, it will be a first step - highly symbolic - to a thorough investigation by a magistrate, to understand the origin of the money spent in France.
In Gabon, as in Congo-Brazzaville, the two countries most affected by the suspicion, such a decision would be seen as a gesture of defiance. To convince Paris, presidents referred multiplient warnings, more or less veiled. And no doubt appreciate the value of the coincidence of news is that the 'Kouchner.
To measure the extent of the scandal BMA, it is necessary to return in March 2007 and the filing, in Paris, a first complaint. Are then referred the three heads of state already mentioned, but also from Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré and Angola Jose Eduardo Dos Santos. The lawsuits stem from three organizations: the Federation of Congolese from the Diaspora, Sherpa and Survie, an association of lawyers. Their approach relies in part on a report by the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD), entitled "ill-gotten gains ... enjoy too often."
With these elements, the prosecution request to the Central Office for the Suppression of the large financial crime (OCRGDF) to investigate. Police list the Presidents and their families, identify the French addresses, bank accounts, cars, and thus constitute a case of extreme wealth, literally and figuratively.
The apartments are tens in the capital in the near suburbs and the south. With a special mention, however, for the clan Bongo. In September 2007, when the OCRGDF reports on its research, the Gabonese president and his entourage come out on top with 39 properties. Three apartments avenue Foch (XVI)? Bongo. A September-bedroom Boulevard Lannes (XVI)? Bongo. 219 square meters rue Laurent Pichat (XVI), 284 square meters avenue Rapp (VII), 125 square meters and 13 garages in Aix-en-Provence? Bongo, Bongo, Bongo ...
The jewel of the inventory: a mansion of 19 million euros
Not forgetting niçoise property comprising two houses, three apartments and a swimming pool. The jewel of the inventory remains a particular hotel (currently under construction) located rue de la Baume, Paris (VIII). Its value in June 2007? Nearly 19 million. It was acquired by Société civile immobilière (SCI) including three Unitholders are the wife of Omar Bongo and his two minor children.
The stepfather of Omar Bongo, Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, has also - directly or through his relatives - foot-to-earth enviable: an apartment of 10 pieces rue de la Tour (XVI), another of 328 square meters avenue Niel (XVII) ... Or, more Vésinet (Yvelines), the villa Suzette, a residence of 500 square meters.
For the three families, the list of luxury cars is correspondingly high. With sometimes purchasing conditions surprising. Thus, in 2004, the wife of Gabonese President adds a light blue Maybach 57 with a value of 326 752 euros, but the check drawn on the account of the Paierie Gabon (public funds), is higher this amount (390 795 euros).
Explanation: The difference (64 000) is a down payment on the purchase of a Mercedes E Class 55 for his daughter Pascaline, director of the office of president. In 2006, the same Pascaline acquired another Mercedes (75 558 euros) paid in part through a check (41 370 euros) from an account of François Meyer, one of his lawyers in Paris father. Mr. Meyer states in L'Express that it was a "gift": "Pascaline is someone I have known for twenty years. Everyone knows that I earn much my life. I still have the right to do what I want my money! "
If they are complete, the investigations are not enough to convince the prosecution to go further in research. On 12 November 2007, the complaint is dismissed for "not sufficiently serious breach". This means there is no evidence the fraudulent origin of the money that allowed this expenditure, which they themselves do not, moreover mystery. The complainants have beautiful ensure that presidents do not receive salaries consistent with such a standard of living and most of their relatives are unemployed, the prosecutor said he agreed that there was no need to search.
But the file is there with his bills, his transfers, his mailing lists. This information whose disclosure annoys the heads of state in question. Their anger is even bigger than the opponent does not s'avoue defeated ... Another complaint, accompanied by a Civil Party, was filed on 2 December 2008 before the senior examining magistrate in Paris. This time, only three presidents are concerned: Bongo, Sassou and Obiang (Equatorial Guinea). Those on which there are more elements.
"Our goal is not to stigmatize Africa but the report is damning"
This complaint from a citizen of Gabon, Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa and a prestigious association of fight against corruption and money laundering: Transparency International (TI). By utilizing these suits, the French IT gives them additional credibility.
The composition of the organization leaves little doubt about the seriousness of the process. Lebègue Daniel, president of TI France, is a former chairman of the Caisse des Depots et Consignations. Among the association's members include Jean-Claude Paye, former Secretary General of the OECD, and Anne-José Fulger, former head of the financial section of the parquet de Paris.
"Our goal is not to stigmatize Africa and its leaders, said Daniel Lebègue at Express, but the report is damning. It is exceptional even for a magistrate to have a record as accurate, complete, exhaustive. There is a such in official incomes from each other and their heritage that are, to our eyes, strong and concordant presumptions of embezzlement of public funds. We still speak of goods whose total value is valued at 160 million euros! And we know they have other assets, in Switzerland, the United States, perhaps in Spain. "
The French lawyers of the "suspects" are challenging this view and some assertions of the complainants. Thus, in the name of Omar Bongo, François Meyer rejects the conclusions of the preliminary investigation. According to him, his client did not 17 properties in his name but five, and four of them were acquired between 1967 and 1974, when the cost of real estate was "very low".
Congolese President mount itself to the front
"This heritage is consistent with his income as president for forty years, insists Mr. Meyer. Above the income of 15 000 euros a month raised by some media. Remember that the heads of state from around the world available to enable SWFs acquire property on behalf of their country. As for the people of the entourage of the president, they work and can afford to own in Paris. In my view, the complaint is doomed to failure. People who bear know, but seek above all have media. My client is very ill this case absurd. His compatriots too. For them, it makes sense to have housing in Paris. It takes many places to relax! "
The Congolese side, the president himself, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, which mounts to the front to call "bourgeois de Neuilly" the leaders of NGOs and Sherpa TI France: "If you look good, he said in December They are descendants of slavery and colonialism who want to give good conscience by talking to Africans, with mercy. "
If the leader of Equatorial Guinea Obiang, in power since 1979, is different. The man aged 66, whose country also produces oil and has its forest resources, has, it seems that one or two addresses in France. The OCRGDF mainly collected information on the fleet of his eldest son, Teodorini: at least eight vehicles, worth a total of 4.2 million, purchased in France between 1998 and 2007.
The lawyer of President Obiang, Isabelle Thomas-Werner, he saw no reason then to accuse his client. "His son is rich and appreciates the beautiful cars is one thing. But I do not understand why my client is in this folder. What he is there? He wondered why the French want him so much. The hard against this small country is incomprehensible! Prosecution Transparency just based on a report written in 2004 by two U.S. senators. "
In fact, this report is on file, but other sources confirm, based on more recent (September 2007), the suspicions against Obiang, especially the son. These sources detail the financial mechanisms that have enabled him to transfer huge sums of Equatorial Guinea in the United States in transit through French banks. Between April 2005 and June 2007, fifteen transfers are awarded by the Bank of France, Fortis and Natixis France. With this money, Obiang's son was offered a villa in Malibu (35 million) and a jet (33.8 million).
In this case, as in those of the Gabonese and Congolese leaders, justice is therefore a decision fraught with political consequences. Meanwhile, tension mounts. In Libreville, the Gabonese single complainant was detained for two weeks in January. His French lawyer, Thierry Levy, could not get there, local authorities refused to grant him a visa.
In France, too, fever wins. At Orleans, a Congolese opposition, whose wife was attached to a previous complaint, has been threatened. As for Me William Bourdon, Sherpa responsible for and defender of TI France, he claims to have been under pressure from two people - a lawyer of the Bar of Paris - as emissaries of Gabon.
The tension is just as strong in the vicinity complained of Presidents, where they fear the legal trouble. If the heads of state know they are protected by immunity-related function, it is not, in fact, to their relatives. A note by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the record, the recall: they do not receive a form of immunity in case of visits or official missions. Ineffective protection against explosive charges folder BMA.
