HESEREX, Switzerland (AFP) – A collection of luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea’s vice president Teodorin Obiang Nguema will be auctioned off in Switzerland on Sunday and are estimated to bring in 18.5 million Swiss francs ($18.7 million or about P970 million).
“This is an exceptional sale,” Philip Kantor of British auctioneers Bonhams said. “It’s a private collection of super cars, with very low mileage.”
Among the cars to go under the hammer at a Geneva golf club are seven Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, five Bentleys, a Maserati, and a McLaren.
The most expensive lots are a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, valued at between 4.8 million and 5.7 million euros ($5.2-6.2 million or about P270 million) and yellow Ferrari hybrid at 2.4 to 2.6 million euros (P136 million).
The cars were all confiscated by Swiss justice after the opening in 2016 of a financial wrongdoing case against Obiang, son and likely heir of Equatorial Guinea’s authoritarian President Teodoro Obiang Nguema who has ruled for 40 years.
All will be sold with no reserve price.
In February, Swiss prosecutors said they were dropping charges of financial wrongdoing against Teodorin Obiang Nguema but were confiscating the luxury cars as part of the case.
Under the Swiss penal code, prosecutors can choose to drop charges in this category if defendants offer compensation “and restore a situation that is in conformity with the law.”
