In <span class="news-text_italic-underline">CBGE v Public Prosecutor of the Paris Court of Appeal (Case No U 24-10.394)</span>, decided on 5 March 2026, the French Court of Cassation (“<span class="news-text_medium">COC</span>”) confirmed that a creditor cannot enforce an arbitral award against a foreign state by attaching the proceeds of assets confiscated in France following the criminal conviction of a foreign public official for money laundering. The COC held that such proceeds do not pass into the ownership of the foreign state; rather, they remain the property of the French state, which allocates them to development projects for the benefit of the foreign population concerned.
The dispute has its origins in a 2009 arbitral award issued by the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration, ordering the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to pay a sum to Commercial Bank Guinéa Ecuatorial (“<span class="news-text_medium">CBGE</span>”). The award was subsequently granted exequatur in France. In seeking to enforce the award, CBGE applied to the enforcement judge for authorisation to seize, on a conservatory basis, Equatorial Guinea's purported share in the sale proceeds of a confiscated property. The property was being sold by AGRASC (the French agency responsible for managing criminal seizures and confiscations) following final criminal decisions, upheld by the COC, ordering confiscation in the wake of the conviction of an Equatorial Guinean official for money laundering offences.
The enforcement judge rejected CBGE's application on 21 April 2023 and the Paris Court of Appeal affirmed that decision. CBGE then appealed to the COC. Before the COC, CBGE argued that assets confiscated as a consequence of money laundering offences committed by foreign public officials ultimately belong to the foreign state and that France holds them only on a provisional basis pending restitution. On this basis, CBGE contended that the proceeds to be received by AGRASC constituted assets of Equatorial Guinea and were therefore amenable to seizure.
The COC dismissed the appeal, relying on two provisions of French law. First, Article 131-21 of <span class="news-text_italic-underline">The French Penal Code</span>, which provides that confiscated property is transferred to the French state upon confiscation. Second, Article 2, XI of <span class="news-text_italic-underline">Law No 2021-1031</span>, which expressly provides that proceeds from the sale of assets confiscated from persons convicted of money laundering do not entail any transfer of ownership to the foreign state. Instead, the proceeds remain the property of the French state and are allocated, through France's official development assistance mission (Aide publique au développement), to projects benefiting the population of the foreign state concerned.
The Court confirmed that Equatorial Guinea held no proprietary right whatsoever over the sale proceeds. Since the targeted assets did not and would not, belong to the debtor state, no conservatory measure could lawfully be authorised. It is also worth noting that, in the same proceedings, the COC had in July 2024 declined to refer to the Constitutional Council a priority constitutional question raised by CBGE concerning the constitutionality of Law No 2021-1031, finding the challenge to be neither novel nor sufficiently serious to warrant referral.
<span class="news-text_medium">Case Reference:</span> <span class="news-text_italic-underline">CBGE v Public Prosecutor of the Paris Court of Appeal, Court of Cassation (No U 24-10.394)</span> (5 March 2026)
