Three Société Générale executives have been arrested in Equatorial Guinea for allegedly breaking its banking secrecy laws, accused of leaking financial documents to be used against the country’s vice president during his upcoming corruption trial in Paris.
The move is the latest in a tit-for-tat battle between the two countries after French prosecutors this year formally charged the vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, of acquiring real estate, luxury cars, art and other goods in France with public funds.
Geneva authorities last month confiscated 11 luxury vehicles and sports cars, including a Bugatti Veyron, from Mr Obiang as part of the French investigation, which follows a complaint brought by the non-government organisations Sherpa and Transparency International in 2007.