Three cheers for free trade!

ExxonMobil and other leading oil companies are to face an investigation into how up to $500 million came to be paid into a private U.S. bank account, said to be solely controlled by the President of Equatorial Guinea, reports The Independent (U.K.). Global Witness, a London-based anti-corruption campaign group, has written to John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General, asking him to look into allegations that Equatorial Guinea's ruler, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has between $300 million and $500 million deposited in the Dupont Circle branch of Riggs Bank in Washington, DC. (Global Development Briefing 051503)

And I thought Dupont real estate rents were high!