The Falcon 7X of the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, was sold on Tuesday at auction for 7.1 million euros at the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux, after being seized in June 2020 at the airport of the Gironde capital. The auction of this aircraft produced by Dassault Aviation was ordered by the Bordeaux judicial court in December 2022 and then confirmed in June 2023 by the court of appeal, with an initial price set at seven million euros. The boss of this company, Mohsen Hojeij, a former close friend of President Sassou Nguesso, had won several contracts between 1983 and 1986: construction of a bridge or a village in particular. In 2000 and then in 2013, the International Court of Arbitration in Paris twice ordered Congo to compensate Mr. Hojeij's company. Over the years, the sum claimed by the businessman has swelled, from around 100 million euros when the dispute began in 1992 to around 1.7 billion euros today.

Source: Ethiopian News October 05, 2023 04:43 UTC