Congo president’s daughter charged with money laundering in France

French investigators charged the daughter of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso with “money laundering and misuse of public funds,”

following an investigation into the assets of three African presidential families, France24 reports.

Julienne Sassou Nguesso, 50, and her husband, Guy Johnson, 53, are under investigation over the purchase of a mansion valued at 3.4 million US dollars in the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, just north of the ritzy 16th arrondissement.

The house is reported to have undergone renovations between 2007 and 2011 amounting to 5.34 million euros, raising the couple’s total investment to nearly 10 million euros.

Investigators believe the couple may have financed part of the project through an offshore company in the Seychelles and with the sale of shares Julienne Sassou Nguesso owned in a telecommunications company tied to “corruption operations.”

Aside from the Sassou Nguesso clan, French authorities are also investigating the family of Gabon's late president Omar Bongo and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.

Obiang’s son, Teodorin, is currently entangled in a court case in Paris for having allegedly pillaged the country’s assets to fund a lavish personal lifestyle.

He has however denied the charges, saying the money came from legitimate sources.

(CGTN)