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(CNN) - A collection of luxury supercars confiscated from the extravagant vice president of Equatorial Guinea as part of a corruption investigation were auctioned in Switzerland on Sunday.
The sale, organized by the London-based Bonhams auction house, was closed with the purchase of 25 vehicles that belonged to Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the leader of the nation of central Africa.
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Swiss authorities confiscated Obiang's luxury vehicle group in 2016 after an investigation of money laundering. All cars were sold without a reserve price and none had accumulated more than a few thousand kilometers.
Among the set was a roadster version of the Lamborghini Veneno, one of nine produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the manufacturer, which was sold for 8.3 million dollars. Originally its value was estimated at more than 5.1 million dollars.
A limited edition LaFerrari was also auctioned for $ 2.2 million, while a Koenigsegg One: 1 of 1,300 horsepower - of which only seven units were manufactured - reached a price of $ 4.6 million, twice as many What was expected.
Also in the collection was a McLaren P1 that sold for $ 1.1 million, an Aston Martin One-77 sold for $ 1.5 million and a Bugatti Veyron auctioned for $ 1.3 million.
All cars were "sold on behalf of the State of Geneva and the proceeds will go to charities," Bonhams said in an email to CNN.
Geneva police seized the fleet of a cargo area at the city's airport in 2016 after criminal proceedings against Obiang were initiated.
According to Reuters, Swiss prosecutors announced in February that they had closed an investigation on Obiang for money laundering and misappropriation of public assets with the agreement to sell the vehicles to finance programs in Equatorial Guinea.
Under the Swiss criminal code, prosecutors can drop charges in cases like this if the defendants offer compensation "and restore a situation that is in accordance with the law," the France-Presse agency reported.
Obiang's expensive tastes have been the subject of investigations by authorities in several countries.
In 2017, a French court imposed a three-year prison sentence suspended for embezzlement, wasting a Parisian mansion, a private jet and the luxury car fleet with funds looted from his country.
Prior to that, Obiang agreed to a $ 30 million settlement to resolve accusations by the United States government that he used money looted from his country to accumulate assets such as a California mansion, a plane and a considerable collection of Michael Jackson's memories. , including the white glove of embedded crystals from Jackson's "Bad" world tour.
And last year, Brazilian authorities confiscated more than $ 16 million in cash and luxury watches from a delegation traveling with Obiang, according to local media reports.
His father, the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who took power in a coup d'etat in 1979, is the oldest head of state in the continent. He named his son as his alternate in 2016.
The oil-rich country, one of the richest in Africa, maintains strict control over information. For several years, the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International described Equatorial Guinea as "too opaque to classify", saying it could not obtain enough data on it for the global corruption index.
