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Oil companies have a history of supplying cash and lavish gifts to leaders of countries whose oil reserves they want to exploit. Bribery of foreign officials was outlawed in 1977 under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, after SEC investigations led more than 400 U.S. companies to admit that they had made questionable or illegal payments in other countries. The act outlaws payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business.

Officials at the Justice Department and SEC, both of which are responsible for enforcing the act, could not provide statistics on the number of oil companies that have been accused of violations. A Justice Department spokesman said no officials wanted to discuss enforcement of the act. Paul R. Berger, associate director of the SEC's enforcement division , cited several cases in recent years that his agency had brought against oil companies, but he added that violations can be hard to discover and prove.

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While oil revenue has filled government coffers, most of the citizens still survive on about $1 a day. Three of four residents suffer malnutrition, but only 1 percent of the budget was spent on health care between 1997 and 2002.

Obiang, his family and members of his government live lavishly. Obiang owns two houses in Potomac, valued at $1.3 million and $2.5 million, property records show. One of his sons, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, owns a $6.9 million house in Los Angeles.

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"Where is this money coming from? Oil -- black gold -- Texas tea!" a Riggs executive vice president, Raymond M. Lund, gushed to colleagues in a 2001 e-mail.