Dirty deeds

Sunday, July 25, 2004

On Sunday night, the story of a tyrant, possibly the worst in the world. He's vicious, he's venal and he's robbing his country blind. His country is the African hell hole called Equatorial Guinea. And no one would have even heard or cared about it — if they hadn't discovered vast oil deposits just off shore. So much oil, in fact, that at the rate this tiny country is growing, in 10 years it could be the richest in the world. Trouble is, most of the oil money's being pumped directly into the president's pocket. He's living like a king, while his people starve.

INTRO — RICHARD CARLETON: Tonight, the story of a tyrant, possibly the worst in the world. He's vicious, he's venal and he's robbing his country blind. His country is an African hellhole called Equatorial Guinea. And no-one would have ever heard or cared about it if they hadn't discovered vast oil deposits just offshore — so much oil in fact, that at the rate this tiny country is growing, in 10 years, it could be the richest in the world. The trouble is, most of the oil money is being pumped directly into the president's pocket. He's living like a king while his people starve.

STORY — RICHARD CARLETON: The two-bob tinpot tyrant who runs this tiny African backwater gets around with an entourage worthy of a superpower and he is just about the most horrible despot in the world today — President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. His people are amongst the poorest on earth and he's amongst the richest.

ALEX VINES, ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: This is one bad place. It's had one of the most appalling human rights records probably in the world — regular torture, regular ex-judicial killings. Until people found oil, nobody was really talking about Equatorial Guinea.

RICHARD CARLETON: The oil here is attractive because it's non-Arab, non-OPEC, non-Muslim and the rigs are well out of reach of the pesky natives. The main island of this tiny nation is in what detractors call the armpit of Africa. A small Australian company, Rock Oil, is drilling here but it's mostly American giants, particularly Exxon Mobil. To begin with, they gave Equatorial Guinea, the oil's owners, just 12 percent of the oil revenues. The norm is more like 60 percent, according to Alex Vines, an African specialist with the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

ALEX VINES: Initially the oil companies gave Equatorial Guinea a really bad deal.

RICHARD CARLETON: They took advantage of him?

ALEX VINES: Certainly to start with. The government of Equatorial Guinea had not a clue what it was dealing with at the time.

RICHARD CARLETON: The main square in the capital is a quaint throwback to Spanish colonial times. Elsewhere, the city is mostly a slum, with little running water and essentially no sewerage. The government stopped us filming here but we managed these shots from our hotel window. Whilst the oil fires flicker on the horizon at night, students with no electricity at home study under the street lights that illuminate the drive to the presidential palace.

FRANK RUDDY: It's a very bad, evil government and Exxon, I think to its shame, is in bed with them.

RICHARD CARLETON: Frank Ruddy is doubly qualified. He was once the American ambassador to Equatorial Guinea and once a lawyer for Exxon.

FRANK RUDDY: The shameful part is that you have a great company like Exxon Mobil, which is tied in with this very corrupt government. The president treats the treasury as his own "atrimony", and so to do business with somebody like that and to basically, literally feed his coffers I think is shameful.

RICHARD CARLETON: The president and his family are frequently overseas. First son, Teodoro Jr, is partial to Paris and its finest hotels. Incredibly, he once allowed French television to tag along on a shopping spree. But a Bentley can be hard work in Paris traffic. A fashion house closed its doors to give Junior exclusive access to the merchandise whilst their Paris ambassador did his job. Teodoro bought 30 suits that day, browsed for a new watch and then took the Lamborghini down the Champs Elysee to get some CDs.

Would it be churlish to suggest that maybe it's excesses like this that cause so little to be spent in the slums back home?

ALEX VINES: The actual expenditure on health and education has significantly declined in the last five years, and think of it … the last five years are when the oil wealth has really been kicking in. So although the country is getting richer, actually, the people are getting poorer. The money is going elsewhere. It's not going to the benefit of the people.

RICHARD CARLETON: The White Man's Hotel in the capital has one of the nation's two swimming pools. Neither contains water. Pity, really, because here we found Eric Moussambani, "Eric the Eel". Remember him? The slowest swimmer at the Sydney Olympics and now training for Athens.

How do you do training if the pools haven't got water?

ERIC MOUSSAMBANI: Okay. I was in South Africa and Ghana. That way I have been training, but now I have to move to Spain to train. Here I can't do it.

RICHARD CARLETON: At the same hotel, we ran into some of Exxon Mobil's men, relaxing after a stint on the rigs. Perhaps being well-oiled blurs the sight of the squalor that is all around.

This country is dirt poor. Where is all the money going?

MAN: We don't control where the money goes. We're just out here to do a job.

RICHARD CARLETON: I was having dinner at a fish restaurant an hour or so after talking to those rig workers when out of the blue, the Equatorial Guinean Information Minister shows up and says, "Get out of the country. Your visa has been revoked." And he added for good measure, "If you go quietly, then nobody will be thrown into jail."

So I think understandably we then quietly made our way here to Madrid in Spain. How many times have you been to jail?

MAN: Four times.

RICHARD CARLETON: Have you been to jail?

JOSE PABLO NVO OWONO, OPPOSITION PARTY: Several times.

RICHARD CARLETON: The rat-infested Black Beach jail back in the capital is where President Obiang locks up his opponents. When he seized power from his uncle 25 years ago, he kept him here for a couple of days and then had him executed. No wonder many in opposition to Obiang today have fled here, Madrid, Spain, the former colonial power.

JOSE PABLO NVO OWONO: The way Obiang is taking all the country, including natural resources … he genuinely believes that this country belongs to him.

RICHARD CARLETON: The president also believes he's sharing those resources. At least, that's what he told Bob Simon from CBS 60 Minutes in an interview last year.

PRESIDENT TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO, TRANSLATION: The oil has been for us like manna that the Jews ate in the desert. We have to follow the rules to make sure the manna reaches all the people in Equatorial Guinea.

RICHARD CARLETON: The oil companies make sure the manna reaches at least as far as him. In America, it's red carpet treatment for the president all the way. Obiang was even a guest at this function when big oil paraded its biggest and most powerful friend.

Do you have any qualms about doing business there?

STEPHEN HAYES, US OIL ADVISOR: It's a matter of you have to.

RICHARD CARLETON: Mr Stephen Hayes runs America's Corporate Council on Africa. The council lobbies for American oil.

I mean, is there any depth to which you will not sink? I mean, would you do business with this man Obiang no matter how corrupt he is?

STEPHEN HAYES: I think that at some point … again, that's a good question. Is there any level at which any oil company in the world wouldn't do business where there that's much oil? I don't know. Your position is that we shouldn't be taking oil from Equatorial Guinea.

RICHARD CARLETON: No, sir.

STEPHEN HAYES: No, it's that position because there's no other choice.

RICHARD CARLETON: Oh, well, I'll tell you my position, sir. My position is that there should be some morality in this and there should be a level below which you won't sink and you've sunk to unbelievable depths in dealing with such a corrupt and cruel dictator as Obiang.

STEPHEN HAYES: Well, I don't agree with it.

RICHARD CARLETON: What … the cruel bit or the corrupt bit?

STEPHEN HAYES: No. Certainly I don't agree that American companies are not following the fair … Trade Practices Act.

RICHARD CARLETON: It turns out President Obiang does lots and lots of business in Washington, oil business and private business. The ritzy part of the most important city in the world, Washington, is, well, very ritzy, and when it comes to a good address, there are few better places than here, Dupont Circle. On this circle, there's one particularly interesting building — the Dupont Circle branch of Riggs Bank. Never heard of it? Well, if you were a member of the Saudi royal family you would have because many of them do their private banking here, as does President Obiang. Obiang controls in excess of 60 accounts at this bank, including the one where oil companies deposit royalty payments. In some accounts, the balances run to hundreds of millions of dollars. In such circumstances, I guess it's understandable that the president would equip himself with a mansion like this just outside Washington. But it's a silly president who forgets to lock the front gate.

Hello. Good morning?

MAN ON INTERCOM: Good morning.

RICHARD CARLETON: Is President Obiang in, please? Hello. How do you do?

A caretaker eventually emerged from a garage so I got a glimpse of the presidential fleet, and since the president was not in when I dropped by, the same caretaker very kindly arranged for me to speak with a government representative on the phone.

Who is this?

CARETAKER: This is my friend.

RICHARD CARLETON: Your friend? What's your friend's name?

CARETAKER: (Speaks Spanish)

RICHARD CARLETON: Oh, you're the ambassador. Oh, I see. You're the president's cousin. Oh, goodness gracious me. Well, Mr Ambassador, tell me, how much money has the president got in his Riggs bank account at the moment? The FBI is trying to trace cash movements in and out of that account. Mr Ambassador, are you still there? And whether it's the oil companies making the "in cash" payments. Bye, bye.

President Obiang and his family must enjoy the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Otherwise, why would he have another mansion just down the road and across the continent, another. Los Angeles' luxurious Beverly Hills area is home for Teodoro Jr. Remember him? He's the son who likes the fast cars and fancy suits. Swimming pools, movie stars and an African prince.

Where is the owner of the property?

GUARD: He's an African prince.

RICHARD CARLETON: An African prince?

GUARD: Yeah.

RICHARD CARLETON: Back home, in Equatorial Guinea's slums, last year, the economy grew a massive 60 percent. It is the fastest growing economy on earth. Near to none of the country's 500,000 people see a brass razoo from this.

Why don't you do the right thing … get out of Equatorial Guinea, turn your back on this corrupt dictator?

STEPHEN HAYES: Let's assume that every US oil company gets out. How fast do you think it would be before the French and other international oil companies are in there? A second. So what really changes in Equatorial Guinea?

RICHARD CARLETON: See, that's it. It's such a tiny place, it should be another Kuwait.

STEPHEN HAYES: If everyone did the right thing, yes, and the fact is, that almost no-one is doing exactly the right thing.

RICHARD CARLETON: By associating with this murderous criminal tyrant, we in the West are party to a disgrace and contributing to a disaster in the making.

Reporter: Richard Carleton
Producer: Howard Sacre