what is Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo net worth?
Net worth | $600 million |
Occupation | president of Equatorial Guinea |
Date of Birth | 5 June 1942 |
Nationality | Equatoguinean |
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo net worth 2023: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is an Equatoguinean politician who has been the 2nd president of Equatorial Guinea since August 1979. He currently has a net worth of $600 million makin g him one of the richest presidents in the Africa and the world at large.
Early years
From a family of the Esangui ethnic clan, he was born in the town of Acoacán belonging to the colony of Spanish Guinea, on the current border with Gabon, within the Continental Equatorial Guinea. Son of the Gabonese Santiago Nguema Eneme Obama and María Mbasogo Ngui, Obiang was the third of ten brothers, among whom are also the National Security Delegate Armengol Ondo Nguema and former National Defense Minister Antonio Mba Nguema.
Obiang’s parents emigrated from Gabon to avoid paying capitation taxes and take advantage of the good economic situation in Spanish Guinea. After the death of María Mbasogo Ngui, Obiang and his brothers were raised by his father and his new wife Carmen Mikue Mbira.
Education
Obiang completed his first studies at the Cardenal Cisneros School Group in Ebebiyin and at the La Salle Center in Bata where he obtained a degree in labor administration.
Obiang joined the military during Equatorial Guinea’s colonial period and attended the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain. He achieved the rank of lieutenant after his uncle, Francisco Macías Nguema, was elected the country’s first president.
Under Macías, Obiang held various positions, including governor of Bioko and leader of the National Guard. He was also head of Black Beach Prison, notorious for severely torturing its inmates.
Presidency
After Macías ordered the murders of several members of the family they shared, including Obiang’s brother, Obiang and others in Macías’ inner circle feared the president had become insane. Obiang overthrew his uncle on 3 August 1979 in a bloody coup d’état, and placed him on trial for his actions, including the genocide of the Bubi people, over the previous decade.
Macías was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on 29 September 1979. A new Moroccan presidential guard was required to form the firing squad, because local soldiers feared his alleged magical powers.
Obiang declared that the new government would make a fresh start from Macías’ brutal and repressive régime. He granted amnesty to political prisoners, and ended the previous régime’s system of forced labor. However, he made virtually no mention of his own role in the atrocities committed under his uncle’s rule.
The country nominally returned to civilian rule in 1982, with the enactment of a slightly less authoritarian constitution. At the same time, Obiang was elected to a seven-year term as president; he was the only candidate. He was reelected in 1989, again as the only candidate.
After other parties were nominally allowed to organize in 1992, he was reelected in 1996 and 2002 with 98 percent of the vote in elections condemned as fraudulent by international observers.
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In 2002, for instance, at least one voting district was recorded as giving Obiang 103 percent of the vote.
He was reelected for a fourth term in 2009 with 97% of the vote, again amid accusations of voter fraud and intimidation, beating opposition leader Plácido Micó Abogo.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Net Worth
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo net worth is $600 million according to Forbes. However, his wealth has not been without questions.
In 2003, Obiang told his citizenry that he felt compelled to take full control of the national treasury in order to prevent civil servants from being tempted to engage in corrupt practices.
Obiang then deposited more than half a billion dollars into more than sixty accounts controlled by himself and his family at Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., leading a U.S. federal court to fine the bank $16 million for allowing him to do so. A United States Senate investigation in 2004 found that the Washington-based Riggs Bank had taken $300 million in payments on behalf of Obiang from Exxon Mobil and Hess Corporation.
Read Richest President in Africa
Beginning in 2007, Obiang and several other African state leaders came under investigation for corruption and fraudulent use of funds. He was suspected of using public funds to finance private mansions and other luxuries for both himself and his family.
He and his son, in particular, owned several properties and supercars in France. Several complaints were also filed in US courts against Obiang’s son. Attorneys stressed that the funds appropriated by the Obiangs were taken quite legally under Equatoguinean laws, even though those laws might not agree with international standards.
Obiang, his cabinet and his family allegedly have received billions in undisclosed oil revenue each year from the nation’s oil production. Marathon Oil purchased land from Abayak, Obiang’s personal investment vehicle, for more than $2 million; in June 2004 the sale was pending but Marathon had already made a $611,000 first payment with a check made out to Obiang. Marathon also was involved in a joint venture to operate two gas plants with GEOGAM, a quasi-state firm in which Abayak controlled a 75% stake.