Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
But The Trial And Sentence Seemed To Have Been A Public Show, To Blindfold The Gabonese People. When The Former First Lady, SYLVIA BONGO, And Eldest Son, NOUREDDIN BONGO VALENTIN, Were Secretly Released From Pre-trial Detention In Libreville, Gabon, On May 16, 2025 To Leave The Country, Gabonese Authorities CERTAINLY Knew That They Would Not Return For The Trial.
In the judgment that was delivered at the end of the two days of a marathon trial at the Special Criminal Court in Libreville, Gabon in November 2025, the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, who did not appear in court for the case, were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, for embezzlement of public funds. They were also ordered by the Court to pay a huge amount of money as fines. The Special Criminal Court in the judgment also ordered the seizure of their properties, and also announced that international warrants of arrest would be issued for Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin, living in Britain, precisely in London, with the former President of Gabon, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba.
However Sylvia Bongo and her son, Noureddin, who had earlier dismissed the accusation of embezzlement of public funds, leveled against them by the new Gabonese authorities as witch hunt, also dismissed the trial as a comedy show. Sylvia Bongo, who is French by origin, repeated her threat that she would drag the Gabonese Government to court in France, for illegal detention and false accusation.
But The Court Ruling Will Be difficult To Implement
Meanwhile, keen observes say it is difficult to see how the court decision or ruling can be effectively implemented against the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo, who are living in Britain, with the former President, Ali Bongo. For one thing, if the British authorities were not prepared to protect the former Gabonese President and his family, they would not have granted him asylum. It is difficult to see how Britain can collaborate to implement the international warrant of arrests for Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin, if the Gabonese Judiciary actually ends up issuing them. Also, Sylvia Bongo (Sylvia Aimee Marie Valentin epse Bongo), is a French national, and it is also difficult to see how France can collaborate in the implementation of the international warrant of arrests against her, and her son. It will be also be difficult for any other member of the European Union to implement the international warrants of arrests.
As for the court decision that the property of Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin be impounded or confiscated by the State of Gabon, the two reportedly did not invest much of their stolen money in Gabon. They reportedly invested much in property abroad, buying expensive houses in some foreign countries. They also reportedly hid equivalents of hundreds of billions of francs CFA in foreign bank accounts. There is no question that the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son and partner in crime, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, are stinking rich, or better still, are multi billionaires, having illegally acquired their wealth from the coffers of the State of Gabon, precisely from the country\s oil and mineral revenues.
Sylvia Bongo while First Lady of Gabon, had a real estate company in the country known as ‘Societe Civile Immobilie”. But it is alleged that most of the buildings that were owned by her enterprise, were in reality State buildings which she misused her power as First Lady to grab, with the complicity of the notary that was working for her enterprise, Maitre Anne Gee. So if the State of Gabon confiscates the properties of Sylvia Bongo’s real estate company, the State would have in most cases simply taken back its property that the former First Lady grabbed or stole, with the complicity of her notary.
But How Serious Were The Gabonese Authorities In Bringing Up The Case In Court?
Meanwhile, keen observers of what happened in Gabon, should be questioning how serious the Gabonese authorities were, when they brought up the case of alleged embezzlement against the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, at the Special Criminal Court In Libreville. This is because the authorities certainly knew that the two who are currently living in Britain, and would would not show up for the case. In fact what happened looked more like a public show that was organized to blindfold the Gabonese people.
As The Mentor News stated in some earlier articles in this series, Noureddin Bongo Valentin and his accomplices of the ‘Young Team’, were arrested on the same day (August 30,2023) that the coup d’etat, which some term palace coup, took place in Gabon. They were put in a detention facility, and a number of serious charges that included embezzlement of public funds, forgery (forged the signature of the President of the Republic), money laundering among others, were leveled against them. The former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, was initially placed under house arrest, when the Ali Bongo regime was overthrown on that August 30, 2023. She was taken to the court on October 11, 2023 to meet the Examining Magistrate of the case, and was taken in the wee hours of October 12 for pre-trial detention at the Libreville Central Prison. The same charges that were leveled against her son, were, leveled against her too. They were in fact partners in crime.
Pressure For The Release Of Former First Lady
The Mentor News also reported how the former Gabonese President, Ali Bongo, cousin of the President of the Transitional Government, Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, refused to leave the country for self –exile as was secretly proposed to him, unless his incarcerated wife and eldest son were released to accompany him. That became an embarrassment to his cousin, the President of the Transitional Government who led the coup, and whom Ali Bongo had as President of the Republic raised to the powerful position of Commander of the best equip and most powerful military unit in Gabon, the Republican Guard.
Incessant pressure was also mounted on the President of the Transitional Government, General Oligui Nguema, by the Presidents of the other member States of the Central African Region, who were as well under pressure from their wives, that he should release the former First Lady from detention. Suffice to say barely a month after the 2025 presidential election in Gabon which held in April with General Oligui Nguema transforming himself from a military leader to the new Civilian President of the country, the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, who were detained in different locations in Libreville, were on May 16 secretly released from detention to leave the country immediately.
Gang Leaders Are Free, While Their Accomplices Are In Prison
There is no doubt that when the Gabonese authorities secretly released the former First Lady and her eldest son to accompany the former President of Gabon, Ali ben Bongo, to quietly leave the country, they certainly knew that the former First Lady and her eldest son, would not return to the country for trial in the case of alleged embezzlement of huge sums of public funds, for which they were being accused. So from all indications, the case that came up at the Special Criminal Court in Libreville, Gabon, last November, was more of a game to blindfold the Gabonese people. There was a live a broadcast of the case to show transparency, but the fact that the main accused persons, the former First Lady and her eldest son, were not in court to answer to the charges that were leveled against them, made the whole thing to look more like a drama.
The fact of the matter is that the big thieves or gang leaders in the big embezzlement case, that is, the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, are free, and enjoying their wealth in Europe, while their accomplices of the ‘Young Team’, who were maintained in detention when their leaders were secretly released to leave the country, are the only ones that appeared in court, and are the only ones in prison today. This should also serve as a lesson to those who blindly follow the wives and children of “Big People” to indulge in wrong doings, under the illusion that they too would be protected in case trouble erupts.
