Former Gabon First Lady, Sylvia Bongo charged with money laundering, forgery

The wife of ousted Gabonese President Ali Bongo, Sylvia, has been charged with money laundering and other offences including forgery.

This was according to Andre Patrick Roponat, the country’s public prosecutor.

The former Gabonese First Lady whose husband was overthrown on August 30 in a coup by the presidential guards, was put under house arrest by the military junta alongside her husband and son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, who has already been charged with corruption and embezzling public funds along with some former cabinet members and two ex-ministers.

Read also: Coup in Gabon, as military officers announce taking over power

In the announcement broadcast on national television, Roponat said Mrs. Bongo is also facing other charges including concealment and embezzlement.

However, one of her lawyers who addressed a press conference in the capital Libreville on Friday, raised an alarm that she was being kept “incommunicado outside any legal framework”.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now