Supercars seized from African leader’s son go on auction
Geneva: Over two dozen supercars, including Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Rolls Royces, confiscated from the son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-ruling President Teodoro Obiang Nguema are being auctioned off in Switzerland, reports said.
The cars were seized by Swiss authorities as part of an investigation into Teodorin Nguema Obiang, deputy to his father, who has ruled the small west African nation since 1979.
As many as 25 of Obiang’s cars, including a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster valued at up to $6.2m, and an Aston Martin One-77 Coupe, are going under the hammer at a golf club near Geneva and are expected to fetch about $18.5m in total, the BBC reported.
“Cars like this would be the jewel of any collection, but to have them all together is really quite extraordinary,” Lynnie Farrant, press officer for auctioneer Bonhams, told the BBC.
The cars were seized by Swiss prosecutors as part of an investigation into Obiang, 51, who served as an adviser to his father and also as the Agriculture Minister before being appointed Vice President in 2012.
He usually figures in international media for his extravagant spending habits and playboy lifestyle.
Swiss prosecutors were investigating him for money laundering and misusing public funds, but had dropped the case in February this year. In 2017, a French court handed Obiang a three-year suspended jail term for corruption.
The proceeds of the sales will be donated to a charity in Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony where poverty is rife despite oil being found there. (IANS)
NZ sports store apologises over porn played on big screens
Sydney: The New Zealand arm of Japanese sports brand Asics has apologised after pornography was broadcast on large television screens above its central Auckland store for several hours, startling Sunday morning shoppers.
Pornography played on the retailer’s outdoor screens for up to nine hours — until staff arrived at the shop around 10am on Sunday and switched them off, the New Zealand Herald reported. “Some people were shocked, but others just stopped and watched,” security guard Dwayne Hinango told the newspaper.
The explicit content was “totally inappropriate and offensive” and “not something you want kids exposed to”, said Tanya Lee, who had walked past with her seven-year-old son. Asics New Zealand said in a Facebook post that an unknown person had gained access to its televisions. “Some objectionable content was displayed on the screens,” the post said.
“We would like to apologise to anyone who may have seen this.” The company said it was working with its software and online security suppliers to ensure the situation was not repeated. (AFP)
Polish daredevil abandons attempt to ski down Mount Everest
Kathmandu: A hanging chunk of ice the size of an apartment block has forced Polish daredevil Andrzej Bargiel to abandon his bid to ski down Mount Everest, he announced on his Facebook on Monday.
The 31-year-old — who last year skied down K2 — was making a rare attempt to summit the world’s tallest mountain and then ski down without supplemental oxygen. But a serac — a block of glacial ice — is hanging dangerously above the already treacherous Khumbu icefall that climbers have to cross to reach Camp 1. Bargiel and other teams were waiting at the base camp hoping the serac — which he said is around 50 metres (165 feet) by 30 metres (98 feet)– would break off so they could pass.
“Walking underneath through the Icefall is extremely dangerous,” he posted on his Facebook page, adding he wouldn’t accept the risk. “We are here for a long time, there is no progress and so no acclimatisation beyond base camp. We therefore have to finish our expedition, because that’s the most reasonable decision.” The decision comes after another team abandoned its expedition last week, now leaving only a few climbers on the mountain.
Nepal has issued only 10 permits for the mountain this season. Bargiel was eyeing the 8,848-metre-tall Everest (29,028 feet) only a year after he became the first person to ski down Pakistan’s K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. (AFP)