The state prosecutor said Wednesday that the son of Ali Bongo Ondimba, the ousted president of Gabon, and several of his close allies have been charged with high treason and corruption.
Noureddin Bongo Valentin, Bongo’s eldest son, and former presidential spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha are among the six people charged and placed in provisional detention.
They face a range of charges including high treason against state institutions, massive misappropriation of public funds, forgery of the president’s signature, corruption and drug trafficking.
Bongo was ousted by military leaders on August 30, moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election. The result was branded a fraud by the opposition and the military coup leaders, who have also accused his regime of widespread corruption and bad governance.
On the same day as the coup, soldiers arrested one of Bongo’s sons, five senior cabinet officials and his wife Sylvia Bongo Valentin.
National TV showed rolling images of those arrested in front of suitcases filled with cash allegedly seized from their homes.
Sylvia Bongo Valentin is under house arrest in the capital Libreville “for her protection”, according to authorities. Her lawyers say she is being held “arbitrarily”.
Bongo, who was under house arrest for several days after the coup, is “free to move around” and go abroad, the country’s new military ruler General Brice Oligui Nguema said on September 6.
The Bongo family has ruled Gabon for over 50 years. Ali Bongo took over when his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.
In 2016, French investigators zeroed in on properties that Omar Bongo’s family owned in France. They suspected several of his relatives had knowingly benefitted from a fraudulently acquired real-estate empire worth at least 85 million euros ($87 million).
