Edge's News: UK sanctions against individuals involved in corruption around the world

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has imposed sanctions on five foreign dignitaries, including the playboy son of Equatorial Guinea’s president who has amassed a fleet of luxury cars.

The Equatorial Guinea - which was ruled by Spain between 1788 and 1968 - is a tiny oil-rich nation in central Africa. Its first ruler was overthrown by his nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, in 1979 and he has ruled ever since.

Teodoro Obiang Mangue, 53, also famously spent US$275,000 on a jewel-encrusted glove which pop star Michael Jackson wore on his Bad tour in 1988. Obiang Mangue’s father, 79-year-old Teodoro Obiang Nguema, is Equatorial Guinea’s president and the son is seen as his heir apparent.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today announces new UK sanctions against 5 individuals involved in serious corruption in Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Iraq.

Sanctions target cases of serious corruption which have deprived developing countries of vital resources, one of those designated spent millions of misappropriated funds on mansions, private jets and a $275,000 glove that Michael Jackson wore on his ‘Bad’ tour, another ruthlessly exploited public food programmes in Venezuela.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has today announced further sanctions on individuals under the UK’s Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime.

This second set of Global Anti-Corruption sanctions targets corrupt individuals who have lined their own pockets through misappropriation, with their greed causing untold damage to the countries and communities they exploit.

The UK will impose asset freezes and travel bans against these individuals to ensure they will no longer be able to channel their money through UK banks or enter the country.

The new sanctions announced today target five individuals involved in serious corruption in Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Iraq. The individuals designated today are:

• Teodoro Obiang Mangue, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, and son of the current President, for 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

• Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei for profiting from misappropriation of property when his company, Sakunda Holdings, redeemed Government of Zimbabwe Treasury Bills at up to ten times their official value. His actions accelerated the devaluation of Zimbabwe’s currency, increasing the price of essentials, such as food, for Zimbabwean citizens.

• Alex Nain Saab Morán and Alvaro Enrique Pulido Vargas for exploiting two of Venezuela’s public programmes which were set up to supply poor Venezuelans with affordable foodstuffs and housing. They benefitted from improperly awarded contracts, where promised goods were delivered at highly inflated prices. Their actions caused further suffering to already poverty stricken Venezuelans, for their own private enrichment.

• Nawfal Hammadi Al-Sultan has been involved in serious corruption in his role as Governor of Nineveh province, Iraq, where he misappropriated public funds intended for reconstruction efforts and to provide support for civilians, and improperly awarded contracts and other state property. Al-Sultan is currently serving a combined five-year prison sentence in Iraq for corruption offences, including wasting five billion Iraqi dinars (approximately £2.5 million) through fictitious public works.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

The action we have taken today targets individuals who have lined their own pockets at the expense of their citizens. The UK is committed to fighting the blight of corruption and holding those responsible for its corrosive effect to account. Corruption drains the wealth of poorer nations, keeps their people trapped in poverty and poisons the well of democracy.

These measures follow the first tranche of UK sanctions under the Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime in April, which targeted 22 individuals involved in serious corruption cases in Russia, South Africa, South Sudan and Latin America.

Over 2% of global GDP is lost to corruption every single year. Today’s action demonstrates the UK’s ongoing commitment to the fight against corruption.

Since the Foreign Secretary launched the Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime in April, in total the UK has now sanctioned 27 individuals around the world involved in serious corruption.