APA-Libreville (Gabon) Under house arrest since the overthrow of her husband, former first lady Sylvia Bongo was on Thursday October 12 the subject of an arrest warrant while detained in a prison in the Gabonese capital Libreville.
The descent into hell continues for Ali Bongo and his family.
Nearly two months after the coup that overthrew him, former First Lady Sylvia Bongo joined her son, Noureddine Bongo, in prison.
The 60-year-old Franco-Gabonese has been indicted since September 28 for “money laundering and forgery and use of forgery”.
She is accused of having “massively embezzled public funds”.
Thus, after Wednesday’s long hearing with an investigating judge, an arrest warrant for her was presented at the central prison in where she is being held.
She is reputed to have been influential under the regime of her husband, who still suffers from the after-effects of a stroke which devastated him in 2018.
Sylvia Bongo is suspected by the Gabonese junta of having “manipulated” the deposed Bongo along with their son Noureddine Bongo in the presidential election of August 2023.
Ali the son of long term ruler Omar Bongo was declared the winner in the first round, a call which the opposition had disputed.
The military, who put an end to more than half a century of rule by the Bongo clan on August 30, subsequently accused the entourage of Ali Bongo, in power for fourteen years, of having rigged his re-election.
Ali’s son Noureddine Bongo was arrested on the first day of the coup, prosecuted for “corruption” and “embezzlement of public funds”.
He was even filmed with other collaborators of the presidency next to suitcases and bags overflowing with bank notes seized from their homes.
On the other hand, Ali Bongo was allowed his freedom of movement a week after he was placed under house arrest.
The new Gabonese authorities seemed to quickly exonerate him, considering that he had been “manipulated” by his wife and their son since he suffered a stroke.
The deposed head of state, who called in a video posted on social networks for his supporters “to make noise” to restore his leadership, still lives in Gabon.
The military junta said he was free to move abroad for his medical examination.
Gabon, which is in 136th position out of 180 countries in the corruption perception of index of Transparency International (2022), has been led since the beginning of September by General Brice Oligui Nguema, a former head of the presidential guard with close ties to the Bongos.
He was proclaimed president of the Gabonese transition two days after the putsch which he led and was acclaimed in the streets by a Gabonese population thirsting for change after more than fifty years of rule by the Bongo clan at the helm of this mineral-rich Central Africa country.
ODL/te/ggl/as/APA