THE HAGUE, Netherlands (Chatnewstv.com) — Equatorial Guinea has asked the United Nations’ top court to stop France from selling a luxury Paris property seized during a high-profile corruption case, warning that any such move would cause “irreparable prejudice” to the African state.
The request for provisional measures was filed Thursday at the International Court of Justice, which confirmed receipt of the application relating to the dispute officially titled “Request relating to the Return of Property Confiscated in Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France).”
According to the filing, Equatorial Guinea claims that on May 27, France’s Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC) asked a Paris court to authorize enforcement officers to enter the building at 42 Avenue Foch—property the country says is protected under the U.N. Convention against Corruption.
The legal standoff escalated on June 18 when, according to Equatorial Guinea, French police officers, AGRASC officials, locksmiths, and private security agents entered the premises unannounced, accompanied by police dogs, and changed the locks. The building was unoccupied at the time.
Equatorial Guinea says it warned France to provide assurances by June 27 that no irreversible actions would be taken while legal proceedings continued. “France has failed to provide any assurances that it will not proceed at any moment with the sale of the building,” the country’s statement to the court read.
In its application, Equatorial Guinea asked the court to urgently impose three binding measures:
Prevent France from offering the building for sale;
Grant Equatorial Guinea “immediate, full and unhindered access” to the property;
And restrain France from taking any action that could escalate the dispute or impede its resolution.
The ICJ said under its rules, requests for provisional measures take precedence over all other cases.
The property in question was central to an earlier French criminal case involving Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the vice president of Equatorial Guinea and son of its longtime president, who was convicted in absentia in 2017 of embezzling public funds to purchase lavish assets in France.
The International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, serves as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and adjudicates legal disputes between states under international law. It is composed of 15 judges elected for nine-year terms by the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council.
The court has not yet set a date for hearings on the provisional measures request.
Editor: Gabriel Ani
