Luxury cars seized from vice president Teodorin Obiang Nguema are expected to fetch $18m at Geneva auction

Teodorin Obiang Nguema

A collection of luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea’s vice president, Teodorin Obiang Nguema, will be auctioned off in Switzerland and are evaluated at 18.5m Swiss francs ($18.7m).

“This is an exceptional sale,” Philip Kantor, of British auctioneers Bonhams, told AFP. “It’s a private collection of supercars, with very low mileage.”

Among the cars to go under the hammer at a Geneva golf club on Sunday are seven Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, five Bentleys, a Maserati and a McLaren.

The most expensive lots are a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, valued at between 4.8m and 5.7m euros ($5.2-6.2m) and a yellow Ferrari hybrid at 2.4-2.6m euros.

The cars were impounded by Swiss justice after the opening in 2016 of a financial malpractice case against Obiang, son and likely heir of Equatorial Guinea’s authoritarian president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has governed 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”.

Equatorial Guinea has also agreed to give Geneva 1.3m Swiss francs to cover the costs of the case.