The government in Equatorial Guinea has imposed a travel ban on lawmakers and are now been asked to seek authorization from the President’s son Teodorin Nguema Obiang is also the vice-president in the oil-rich central African country.
“On the grounds of national interest,” lawmakers must submit a request to travel abroad to the head of the National Assembly or the Senate “with the agreement of the vice president,” this is according to a note from the presidency obtained by AFP on Thursday
In June, the country’s civil servants were hit with a similar ban. According to sources, the move is linked to an attempted coup that took place in December, the details of which were announced by the Equatorial Guinean government in January. The authorities say the operation involved a group of men from Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan, but some of the ringleaders were civil servants who had travelled to Europe in late 2017.
The former ambassadors of Equatorial Guinea to Chad, Enrique Nsue Anguesomo, and other officials were arrested in early 2018 and have since been held without trial to date.
Veep Teodorin Nguema Obiang was given a 3-year suspended prison sentenced by a French court at the end of 2017 and a $30 million fine for money laundering social goods, misappropriation of public funds, breach of trust and corruption.
