E. Guinea president robbed of USD$8m

  1. Posted on Thursday 22 January 2009 - 13:22
    Mforgham
    Image of Mforgham
    Solomon Tembang Mforgham, AfricaNews reporter in Limbe, Cameroon
    President of Equatorial Guinea, Theodore Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, is reported to have been robbed of FCFA 4 billion an equivalent of USD$8,000,000 in cash from his home. According to French news agency, AFP, some jewels and other high-priced items were stolen from the home of the president recently.
    Mbasogo
    Prime suspects in the theft include an unnamed Paraguayan couple, the report said. The expatriates, who are reported to have worked at the president’s clinic and private residence in Malabo, took advantage of his absence to steal.

    They are reported to have won the confidence of the presidential couple as well as that of his entourage. From long years of apparently loyal service, they had free access to his palace, the reports noted.

    Several business concerns belonging to the presidential couple is known to be run by expatriates including Asians, South Americans and Lebanese. And there is every reason to believe that many of them will come under meticulous scrutiny, security expects said.

    The Paraguayans are reported to have ransacked the presidential couple’s private quarters, broke into and emptied safes of all their contents. The cash, reports claimed, included thick piles of FCFA, euro bills and dollar banknotes.

    Attendant reports say that a manhunt had been launched to track down the suspects after their sudden disappearance revealed the robbery. They are so far known to have unperturbedly boarded a regular flight from Malabo that ended in Madrid, Spain.

    But it remains unclear how they managed to circumvent and sidetrack customs officials and airport security officials with the huge amount of money and valuable items.

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