Usually when you are fortunate enough to get your hands on a Bugatti Veyron, a Koenigsegg One:1 and a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster, the goal is to hang onto them. Not have them confiscated by, oh say, the government.
The Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue—the son of African dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo—had his cars seized in a raid in Geneva yesterday, according to GT Spirit. They were registered in Equatorial Guinea and included:
A Lamborghini Veneno and a Koenigsegg One:1. The Veneno Roadster is chassis #7 of 9 cars built, finished in Bianco Isis & Avorio, the One:1 is one of 7 cars built – chassis #111 finished in blue and tan colors.
Rough math puts that figure at something around $8 million, but that’s a conservative estimate.
Almost unbelievably this isn’t the first time Obiang Mangue has had multiple supercars seized in police raids.
In 2011, the French police seized 11 of his cars in Paris, including two Veyrons, a Maserati MC12, a Porsche Carrera GT, a Ferrari Enzo, a Maybach, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Ferrari 599 GTO. In total, there was about $4.1 million worth of cars. Later on in 2012, Obiang Mangue’s Parisian mansion was seized by police as well.
Both were part of a corruption investigation that involved Obiang Mangue’s father.
The Swiss authorities are collaborating with the French in their own investigation, but haven’t yet announced details about yesterday’s raid, reports Motor Authority.
If you’re wondering where the money for these cars came from, the BBC quotes Human Rights Watch as saying the “dictatorship under President Obiang has used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country’s people.” Nice.