Muammar al-Qaddafi may have called himself a simple Bedouin, but when it came to transport, camels were not his thing. In 2009, he unveiled his own custom-designed supercar, the Saroukh El Jamahiriya, or Libyan Rocket, a five seat sedan shaped (oddly enough) like a rocket. But speed wasn't quite the Brotherly Leader's goal: with an amemic 230 horsepower engine, it wasn't designed to tear down Tripoli's highways. Instead, it was designed to be the safest car in the world, complete with pop-out bumbers and double digit airbags. Sadly, only one was ever built. And he could have used it.
Foreign Policy and Ken Silverstein have kept a close eye on the lavish lifestyle and shady dealings of Teodorin Obiang Nguema -- the son of Equatorial Guinea's long-serving dictator -- including his car collection of seven Ferraris, five Bentleys, four Rolls-Royces, two Lamborghinis, two Mercedes-Benzes, two Maybachs, two Bugatti Veryrons, and an Aston Martin (a blue Bugatti Veyron, such as the one seen above, was reportedly a favorite). And all this on a government minister's salary of $5,000 a month -- it must have been a sad day, then, in Paris this September when the French government seized 11 of his supercars over money laundering charges.
