Gabon buys Ted Kennedy's mansion
2011-07-27 11:24
Libreville - Oil-rich Gabon confirmed on Tuesday it bought a mansion of the late US senator Ted Kennedy in Washington for $6.5m to house its new embassy in the US capital.
A statement from the presidency received by AFP said the west African country had paid $6.5m for "a new residence for its embassy in Washington" acquired from Kennedy, the long-time senator and brother of president John Kennedy, who died in August 2009.
Last week, a real estate agent in Washington, Tim Hanan, announced that the white mansion with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, five fireplaces, an indoor swimming pool and a gym changed owners for $6.5m.
"This property investment was prompted by the need to replace the Gabonese embassy [in Washington], which was damaged in a fire in 2003 and is in line with the reform of Gabonese diplomacy called for by President Ali Bongo," the statement said.
Kennedy and his wife Vicky bought the spacious property in the Kalorama district of Washington in 1998. His widow put it on the market last year, months after Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer.
According to Hanan, Kennedy's widow has bought a smaller home near the mansion where she and her husband used to live, and is in the process of having it renovated.
Last year, two French newspapers reported that Gabon bought a building in Paris for €100m, prompting Gabonese anti-corruption groups to demand a parliamentary enquiry.
In December 2008, Watchdog group Transparency International (TI) France also lodged a complaint in Paris concerning what it called the "ill-gotten gains" of three African leaders.
They asked for a judicial probe into the French property owned by then Gabonese president Omar Bongo and his counterparts Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.
- SAPA
