The wife and son of former President Ali Bongo Ondimba were sentenced on Tuesday evening to 20 years in prison by a Gabonese court for embezzlement of public funds and other financial offenses.
The Specialised Criminal Court of Libreville delivered its verdict in the case between the state and Sylvia Bongo Ondimba and Noureddine Bongo Valentin.
The two defendants, who were absent from the trial and reside in London, were sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for embezzlement of public funds, receiving stolen goods, money laundering, impersonating an official, and inciting forgery, APA reported.
Sylvia Bongo was also fined 100 million CFA francs and, jointly with her son, ordered to pay nearly 1,000 billion CFA francs to the Gabonese state in damages for moral harm.
Trial denounced as political witch hunt
Noureddine Bongo Valentin reacted Wednesday morning on X, denouncing the trial as one “without any evidence being presented” and asserting that the verdict rests on the statements of witnesses “under duress from the military junta.”
“The Gabonese justice system does not care about being credible when it accuses us of embezzling €7.5 billion, since it’s a political conviction and they have to make a strong case. Since my release, I
have relentlessly exposed a justice system that answers to the orders of the executive branch, and I am paying the price today. I have never embezzled any money, and I will continue to fight for the truth before independent legal bodies,” he declared.
Prosecuted since 2023, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba and Noureddine Bongo Valentin are accused of
misappropriating several billion CFA francs of public funds.
Their trial is part of the broader judicial process launched after the fall of the Bongo regime following the August 2023 military coup that brought General Brice Oligui Nguema to power.
The court’s verdict marks a step in the fight against corruption in Gabon undertaken by the new authorities, while also sparking criticism and protests from those convicted and their supporters.
DM/fss/as/APA