Swiss prosecutors to confiscate luxury cars belonging to Equatorial Guinea’s VP

Prosecutors in Switzerland have seized 11 luxury cars belonging to the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea Teodorin Obiang, who they are investigating for corruption, on Thursday.
Contacted by Reuters, Obiang's lawyer in Paris said the cars seized in Switzerland did not belong to his client. "These are not his vehicles," Emmanuel Marsigny said.

A statement from the Swiss prosecutor’s office emailed to Reuters stated on Thursday that the cars had been confiscated at Geneva airport, and that criminal proceedings had been opened against Teodorin Obiang.

The Swiss investigation was prompted by a request from the French authorities, who are very interested in Obiang.
French officials are trying to put Obiang on trial in early 2017, alleging that money laundering has allowed the Equatorial Guinean vice-president to purchase luxury cars and real estate in Paris.

Obiang, 47, was promoted by his authoritarian father Teodoro Obiang Nguema in June to be vice president of the oil-rich west African nation.
Obiang's father seized power in Equatorial Guinea in 1979, making him Africa's longest serving ruler, just ahead of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.