Paris - A lawsuit has been filed in Paris accusing three African presidents of corruption, the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported on Tuesday. The suit, filed by the anti-corruption organization Transparency International and a citizen of Gabon, accuses Gabonese President Omar Bongo, the president of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the president of Equitorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, of having used state funds to enrich themselves.
The plaintiffs say that France is the proper jurisdiction for the complaint because much of the alleged abuse of state funds - in the purchase of expensive properties and automobiles - occurred here.
"No one can believe that this (purchased) real estate, which is worth many millions of euros, could have been acquired with only their salaries," the complaint reads.
A similar complaint filed in November 2007 was ultimately dismissed because investigators were unable to determine that the properties owned by the three presidents in Paris had been purchased with state funds.
The new lawsuit is intended to give investigators more power in that the inquiry will be led by a magistrate, if the complaint is judged admissible.
According to the report, attorneys for the plaintiffs and some of the plaintiffs themselves have been subject to both bribery attempts and threats.
"The pressure on our co-plaintiffs is enormous," said the head of Transparency International-France, Daniel Lebegue.
