25 LUXURY CARS SEIZED FROM EQUATORIAL GUINEA PRESIDENT'S SON AUCTIONED IN SWITZERLAND.

A Lamborghini Veneno roadster fetched $8.4 million on Sunday in Geneva.

Geneva, SWITZERLAND:

A fleet of supercars said to have been seized by the Swiss authorities in a money-laundering investigation involving the son of the leader of Equatorial Guinea was auctioned on Sunday in Switzerland.

The vehicles were among 25 luxury cars sold for more than $ 27 million at Bonhams auction house, according to The Associated Press, in what Bonhams called a “very special sale.” Beforehand, the cars had been estimated to bring in more than 12 million euros , or $ 13 million.

“The cars represent an international roll call of prestige and performance marques,” with models from Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari and Lamborghini, Bonhams said in a statement.

Many of the cars once belonged to Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, according to news reports, vice president of Equatorial Guinea and a son of its longtime leader.

Supercars from a collection owned by a son of Equatorial Guinea’s president were shown on Friday at an auction preview in the Swiss village of Cheserex.

Mr.Obiang led an opulent and charmed life for years, spending a good amount of his time in a 100-room mansion on Avenue Foch in Paris, ordering bottles of Romanée-Conti Burgundies and driving his supercars.

In 2007, two nongovernmental organizations and an association of Congolese citizens abroad filed a criminal complaint accusing three African heads of state - including Mr. Obiang’s father, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the country’s president for the past four decades - of embezzling state money to buy properties in France illegally.

The authorities began seizing Mr. Obiang’s property in 2011, including,

The Times reported, 11 luxury cars like two Bugatti Veyrons, among the most powerful and expensive cars in the world; a Mercedes Maybach; an Aston Martin; a Ferrari Enzo; a Ferrari 599 GTO; a Rolls-Royce Phantom; and a Maserati MC12.

Officials later seized property like the contents of a wine cellar. And in 2016, the Swiss authorities confiscated more cars as part of a corruption investigation involving President Obiang and ordered the sequestration of a yacht. According to Le Monde, the Obiang art collection included a Degas and five works by Rodin.

The younger Mr. Obiang was convicted of money laundering and embezzlement of more than $ 100 million by a Paris court in 2017, but the case has been appealed. Geneva prosecutor’s office announced in February that it had closed its case against him.

The auction of his luxury car collection took place in a 12th-century abbey in the Bonmont Golf and Country Club in Geneva.

It featured scarcely seen models, including a white and cream Lamborghini Veneno, one of nine roadsters created to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. It was expected to go for at least $ 5.5 million but brought in $ 8.4 million, including fees.

Also on the block were a Koenigsegg One: 1, one of only six models promoted as the world’s “first mega car,” partly because of its ability to produce more than one megawatt of power; and a barely used La Ferrari, described by its manufacturer as the “most ambitious” Ferrari. It had been driven just 621 miles.

The State of Geneva offered the collection for sale, to be sold without reserve, Bonhams said in a statement. The proceeds were expected to be donated to a charity in Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich but impoverished West African country.

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