Millions of euros of assets belonging to the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president were ordered to be seized by a French court that found him guilty in absentia on Friday of using money plundered from his country to buy property and luxury cars.

The Paris court found Teodorin Obiang... guilty of embezzlement... Obiang denied the charges.  [He] was also handed a three-year suspended prison sentence and a suspended 30 million euros ($34.78 million) fine. 

...The court was critical of Societe Generale, France’s second biggest bank, and the Bank of France, deeming them complacent towards Obiang’s finances and too slow to react.

The role of the two banks was taken into account to justify the suspended sentences for Obiang, the court said.

Societe Generale said it had not been a party in the trial and “therefore we don’t have any particular comment to make”.

Officials at the Bank of France did not immediately respond to a request for comment.