The wife of Gabon’s ousted leader Ali Bongo has been jailed, the AFP news agency said in a social media post on Thursday citing a lawyer.
According to reports, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Valentin was charged on September 28, 2023 with money laundering, forgery and falsification of records.
Sylvia, 60 was accused of having manipulated the former president, who is suffering the after-effects of a serious stroke in 2018.
The putschists claimed that she and one of Bongo’s sons have effectively pulled the strings in the oil-rich country for the past five years and have misused public money.
Sylvia Bongo has since been taken into custody at a prison in the capital Libreville. She faced a long hearing in front of a judge and imprisoned later on Wednesday, her Paris-based lawyer Francois Zimeray said.
Gabon army officers removed President Ali Bongo from office on August 30, 2023 after a controversial presidential election which he won.
The coup leaders annulled the election insisting the presidential polls was not credible.
Bongo has been in power since 2009. He succeeded his father Omar Bongo, who ruled Gabon for 42 years. Who is Sylvia Bongo? Watch the video below.
SOURCE: Kasatintin.com
