On Tuesday, the Falcon 7X belonging to the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, was auctioned off for 7.1 million euros at the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux.
This aircraft was seized in June 2020 at the Bordeaux airport.
The seizure, carried out by a bailiff during maintenance work, was part of a lengthy series of legal proceedings initiated over decades by the head of the company, Commisimpex, a Lebanese businessman, against the Congolese government.
The auction of this Dassault Aviation-produced aircraft was ordered by the Bordeaux judicial court in December 2022 and subsequently confirmed in June 2023 by the court of appeal.
The starting price was set at seven million euros.
The auction was conducted by Vincent Pestel-Debord and concluded within seconds with a single bidder, who remains anonymous.
This bidder has three days to settle the remaining balance of the purchase and will be required to remove the aircraft’s livery, which currently bears the colours of the Republic of Congo, according to Mr. Pestel-Debord.
The proceeds from this sale are intended to compensate Commisimpex for unpaid public works.
The owner of Commisimpex, Mohsen Hojeij, a former close associate of President Sassou Nguesso, had secured several contracts between 1983 and 1986, including the construction of a bridge and a village, among others.
However, in 1986, following the collapse of oil prices, the economic situation in the Republic of Congo deteriorated, and only a portion of the contracted work was completed.
In 2000 and then in 2013, the International Court of Arbitration in Paris twice ruled that Congo was obligated to compensate Mr. Hojeij’s company.
Over the years, the amount sought by the businessman grew significantly, from approximately 100 million euros when the dispute commenced in 1992 to around 1.7 billion euros today.