France tries Equatorial Guinea leader's son in absentia in corruption case

By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - The son of Equatorial Guinea's president was put on trial in his absence on Monday in France, accused of buying palatial Parisian properties and exotic cars with money plundered from his native country, a small oil-rich state on Africa's west coast. Teodorin Obiang, eldest son of President Teodoro Obiang and a vice-president himself, denies charges of laundering embezzled public funds, which expose him to a sentence of 10 years in jail and huge fines if co