George H. Wu, the California federal judge assigned
to the civil suit against Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of
Agriculture and Forestry, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, granted a
motion filed by his lawyers to dismiss the seizure of some of his properties by the
United States government.
Judge George H. Wu stated that the Department of
Justice had failed to present sufficient evidence to accuse the Minister of
using “ill-gotten gains” to purchase property. In his indictment, he described
the charges on the complaint as “vague” and called the complaint “devoid of any
facts that might support allegations that Nguema directly participated in
extortion, misappropriation, theft or embezzlement” of public funds. He then
extended the deadline for the prosecutors to bring new and more sufficient
evidence.
The Government of Equatorial Guinea responded by
rejecting the notion that their officials could be tried or sued in foreign
countries over events that occurred in their home country.
