The Diplomat
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced this past Thursday a new package of sanctions against five individuals implicated in cases of serious corruption in Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Iraq.
Raab launched his global anti-corruption sanctions regime last April and, since then, the UK has sanctioned 27 individuals worldwide. The first tranche targeted 22 individuals involved in serious corruption cases in Russia, South Africa, South Sudan and Latin America, while this second package of sanctions targets five individuals who have lined their pockets through the “misappropriation” of vital resources and who will have their assets frozen and banned from entering the country “to ensure they will no longer be able to channel their money through UK banks”.
Among those sanctioned in this second package is Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, popularly known as Teodorin, vice president of Equatorial Guinea and son of the current president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema. In his case, the reason for the sanctions is “his involvement in the misappropriation of state funds into his own personal bank accounts, corrupt contracting arrangements and soliciting bribes, to fund a lavish lifestyle inconsistent with his official salary as a government minister”. This included the purchase of a $100m mansion in Paris and a $38 million private jet.
Another of those sanctioned is Colombian businessman Alex Saab, linked to the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro and whom London accused of “exploiting two of Venezuela’s public programs that were established to provide poor Venezuelans with affordable food and housing”.
