The wife of Gabon’s deposed president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, under house arrest since the coup in the central African country in late August, has been jailed, her lawyer said on Thursday.
Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Valentin, suspected of embezzling public funds, was jailed late on Wednesday, her lawyer, Francois Zimeray told AFP, denouncing the “arbitrary… illegal procedure”.
Bongo’s wife was charged on September 28 with money laundering, forgery and falsification of records.
She has been under house arrest in Libreville since the military coup ousted her husband as the president.
The military accused the former head of State and his entourage of falsifying the election results and has openly alleged that his wife has been manipulating him since he suffered a serious stroke in 2018.
Bongo’s eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin and several allies of the ousted Gabon president had also been charged with high treason and corruption and placed in custody.
Recall that Bongo, 64, who had ruled the oil-rich central African country since 2009, 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.
National TV showed rolling images of those arrested in front of suitcases filled with cash allegedly seized from their homes.
Bongo, who was himself 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.
Nguema has been sworn in as interim president after spearheading the coup that ended a half-century of rule by the Bongo family.
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 owned by Omar Bongo’s family in France.
They suspected several of his relatives had knowingly benefited from a fraudulently acquired real-estate empire worth at least 85 million euros that is $87 million.
Ten of Omar Bongo’s 54 children have been charged with allegedly concealing the misappropriation of public funds, a Paris-based legal source has told AFP.
As a sitting head of state, Ali Bongo had immunity.
