Transparency International made public their annual Corruption Perceptions Index. It ranks 180 states and territories according to their perceived levels of public sector corruption. As a result, each country is assigned a score, from 0 (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

The Berlin-based nonprofit put Equatorial Guinea on place 172, out of 180, with a startling score of 17. The only African states to surpass it in corruption are Libya, Somalia and South Sudan (the most corrupted country in the world, as per TI). Equatorial Guinea even got to have several very critical notes made in the annual report.

This country is a well-known cleptocracy, probably one of the most notorious in the world. And it all goes to the very top of the state authorities, to the heir apparent Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, aka Teodorín, himself. He is the son of the incumbent President and sits on the summit of the food chain.

The accusations of corruption are well-documented and any claims of it being hearsay serve the interests of just one Equatoguinean family, the Obiangs. In July 2021 the Supreme Tribunal of France found Vice-President guilty on charges of money laundering and embezzlement. Thus started what initially seemed to be serious international problems for the Obiangs. The French authorities received 30 millions of euros in Teodorín’s property and fines.

But what it really meant internationally, was one of the first wide acknowledgements on the highest level that revealed to the world the incredible rate of corruption in this small African country.

Another country that didn’t want to put up with skyrocketing levels of corruption in Equatorial Guinea was Great Britain. This center of world economics imposed personal sanctions on Teodoro Obiang Mangue.  These sanctions included his actives being frozen and a ban on visiting Britain.

The reasons behind the British sanctions were “embezzlement of public funds” and bribes needed to maintain a posh lifestyle. It is presumed that Vice-President spent more than 500 million dollars on luxurious estates all over the world, a private jet, cars and a Michael Jackson-themed collection.

The corruption is visible with a naked eye all over the Equatoguinean offices of public authorities. For instance, oppositional media report that institutional corruption made it way to INSESO, the country’s Institute of Social Security.

The surreal part of this predicament is the Vice-President’s hypocrisy. While the country is being named one of the most corrupted in the world and he himself is under sanctions for the very same reason, Teodorín starts a country-wide anti-corruption program. It makes sense to add that the Vice-President’s father, the President Teodoro Mbasogo said publicly this past November that the country is corrupted but it has nothing to do with his family and those involved give the country a bad name. Well, the real bad name is already known.