Fleet of supercars sold for 30 per cent of price

A fleet of 11 supercars, which included two Bugatti Veyrons, have sold at auction for just 3.1 million euros (approximately $4.4 million) in France. The cars originally belonged to Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, but were seized by French authorities during a 2011 investigation over the alleged theft of public funds in the African nation.

The cars were seized at the President’s 101-room mansion near the Champs Elysees in Paris and included the aforementioned Bugattis -- which are priced at the equivalent of $1.5 million in overseas markets -- as well as a rare Ferrari Enzo ($1.7m overseas), a Maserati MC12 ($1.5m overseas), a Porsche GT2 RS ($560,000 here), a Ferrari 599 GTO ($569,000 overseas), a Rolls-Royce Phantom ($1.1m), a Maybach ($1.1m), an Aston Martin Vanquish ($472,000) and a pair of Bentleys, including an Azure ($750,000 here).

According to International Business Times, the cars were sold by auction house Drouot and most had little or no mileage on them. Considering that a Bugatti Veyron alone, even used, will set you back more than a million dollars, the winning bidders have made quite the deal. Other items seized from the President’s Paris residence included vintage wines, jewellery, and paintings by renowned artists such as Degas and Renoir.

Court documents reveal that the 11 cars were among a larger fleet of 26 exotics that were shipped to France from the US in 2009 at a total cost of $12 million. Many have since been transported on to Equatorial Guinea -- despite most of the roads there being little more than dirt tracks.

The documents also reveal that an arrest warrant has been issued for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue for the charge of misuse of public funds. The government of Equatorial Guinea is allegedly trying to appeal the case and have the investigation blocked on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, since it claims the Paris mansion where the cars were seized was part of the country's embassy.

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