The Falcon 7X of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso was sold at auction on Tuesday October 3 for 7.1 million euros at the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux, after being seized in June 2020 at the airport of the Gironde capital. This seizure by bailiff, during maintenance work, is part of a long series of legal proceedings initiated for decades by the boss of the Commisimpex company, a Lebanese businessman, against the State of Congo-Brazzaville.
The auction of this aircraft produced by Dassault Aviation was ordered by the Bordeaux judicial court in December 2022 then confirmed in June 2023 by the court of appeal, with an initial price set at 7 million euros. It was led by auctioneer Vincent Pestel-Debord and concluded in a few seconds with the first and only bidder. Remaining anonymous, he has three days to pay the balance of his purchase and will have to remove the livery of the aircraft, currently in the colors of Congo, indicated Mr. Pestel-Debord.
This sale should make it possible to compensate Commisimpex for unpaid public works. The boss of this company, Mohsen Hojeij, a former close friend of President Sassou Nguesso, had won several contracts between 1983 and 1986, notably for the construction of a bridge or a village. But in 1986, after the collapse of oil prices, the economic situation in Congo had deteriorated and only part of the work had been completed.
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 amount claimed by the businessman has ballooned, from around 100 million euros when the dispute began in 1992 to around 1.7 billion euros today.
The Congolese authorities reacted to the sale of the Falcon 7X through the voice of the government spokesperson, Thierry Moungalla, to Radio France Internationale (RFI): “A presidential plane, which is flocked with the Congolese flag, which bears the coat of arms of the country and which is for the exclusive use of the President of the Republic, should benefit from immunity, like any property which falls under the sovereignty of each State. We followed the progress of the auction, which seemed quite curious to us, with only one bidder. This plane, in five minutes, was sold at a price well below its value. The Congolese State will exercise the means of appeal so that the law is declared. »
