By Ebi Kesiena
The wife of Gabon’s overthrown President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been under house arrest following August coup, over the suspected embezzlement of public funds, has been jailed, her lawyer said on Thursday.
Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Valentin, who is Franco-Gabonese, was imprisoned late on Wednesday, her Paris-based lawyer Francois Zimeray told AFP.
According to her lawyer Francois Zimeray, the Franco-Gabonese Sylvia Bongo was imprisoned late Wednesday, as he condemned the arbitrary illegal procedure.
She was charged on September 28 with money laundering, forgery, and falsification of records.
According to Gabonese media reports, she was taken into custody at a prison in the capital Libreville following a long hearing in front a judge.
Sylvia Bongo had been under house arrest in Libreville since August 30 coup brought the curtain down on 55 years of rule by the Bongo dynasty.
Recall that Ali Bongo, 64, who had ruled the central African country since 2009, was overthrown by military leaders’ moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election.
The election 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.
The petitioner accused Sylvia Bongo of manipulating the former president, who is suffering the after-effects of a serious stroke in 2018. They say she and one of the couple’s sons have effectively pulled the strings in the oil-rich country for the past five years and have misused public money.
Their eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, has also been charged with corruption and embezzling public funds with several former cabinet members and two ex-ministers.
In what appears to be a hostage-taking, Sylvia Bongo had been isolated from her husband, and her French lawyers had complained about it.
“We condemned this illegal procedure,” lawyer Zimeray said on Thursday following her jailing. There is a difference between justice and arbitrary actions, between the law and revenge.”
However, many in Gabon saw the overthrow of the Bongo dynasty as an act of liberation rather than a military coup.
Ali Bongo was elected after his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.
Gabon is Africa’s third-richest nation in terms of per-capita GDP but one in three people lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
