French prosecutors said Friday they had seized a house in the Paris suburbs linked to the son of the president of the Republic of the Congo, in a probe into suspected “ill-gotten gains”IgbereTV reports
The property in upscale Neuilly-sur-Seine, linked to Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, “was seized in June”, the office of the National Financial Prosecutor (PNF) confirmed to AFP after a report by investigative news site Mediapart.
However, they added that “Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso has so far not been charged”.
Citing police documents, Mediapart reported that the townhouse was bought in 2009 for 5.2 million euros ($5.2 million) before being renovated for a further 5.4 million, and was “definitely” home to Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso and his family.
One of the owners of the property holding company that owns the building is the Congolese minister’s chief of protocol, known to be one of Sassou Nguesso’s “strawmen”, the site added, citing an investigation by the OCRGDF serious financial crimes unit.
“I’m outraged that France, with its history as a colonial and slave-holding great power, is now coming to lay blame at African leaders’ feet,” Sassou Nguesso’s lawyer Jean-Jacques Neuer said.
“Many very ill-gotten gains that belong to Africans are in French hands,” he added.
Neuer insisted that the investigation of his client was “political and not judicial
