Shahriar Zangeneh

The leadership of the Islamic Republic along with its top and mid-echelon apparatchiks might want to follow this precedent-setting case.

Following a lawsuit by the French branch of an anti-corruption group, Transparency International, a French magistrate has launched a probe into whether the presidents of three African oil-producing countries used embezzled public funds to buy luxury homes and cars, the Paris prosecutors' office said on Tuesday. 

A 2007 French police probe found the leaders of the three countries and their families owned dozens of bank accounts, homes in rich areas of Paris and on the Riviera, and cars including Bugattis, Ferraris, Maybachs, Maseratis and a Rolls-Royce.

 Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea deny any wrongdoing. They have been embarrassed by the disclosure in French media of their assets worth tens of millions of euros.

"This is an unprecedented decision because it's the first time a judicial inquiry has been opened concerning suspected embezzlement by sitting presidents" said William Bourdon, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case.