Embezzlement Scandal At Gabon’s Presidency (Part 3): Former First Lady, SYLVIA BONGO, Left From House Arrest To Libreville Central Prison, For Pre-trial Detention

  The Former First Lady, As Well As Her Eldest Son (NOUREDDIN BONGO VALENTIN) And Six Others Including The Former Director And Deputy Director Of Cabinet At The Presidency, Were All Placed On Pre-trail Detention. They Were Accused Of FRAUD, EMBEZZLEMENT (Hundreds Of Billions FCFA Of Public Funds), FORGERY (FORGED THE SIGNATURE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC), MONEY LAUNDERING, CORRUPTION, DRUG TRAFFICKING.  

In the early hours of August 30, 2023, the military, precisely the Republican Guard, over threw President Ali ben Bongo Ondimba that had been in power since 2009, when he took over from his late father. The ousted President, Ali Bongo and wife, Sylvia Bongo, were placed under house arrest.

A group of seven alleged partners in crime, who called themselves ‘Yong Team’, and that led by   Noureddin Bongo Valentin, the eldest son of the ousted President, were arrested and placed on detention on the same day that the coup d’etat took place, that is, August 30, 2023.  The other six persons who were all either senior officials of Ali Bongo s Government or his political party, included: 1) The Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou. 2) The Deputy Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Mohamed Ali Saliou. 3) Special Adviser of the President of the Republic, Abdul Hosseni. 4) Special Adviser of the President of the Republic, Jessye Ella Ekogha. 5)  Senior Official of the ruling ‘Parti Democratique Gabonais’ PDG, that is, the Gabonese Democratic Party, Steve Nzegho Dieko. 6) Senior Official of PDG, Cyraque Mvourandjiami.

The fact that the accusations were leveled against Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and the other members of his “Young Team”, just a few hours after the coup d’etat took place, meant that complaints were prepared against them, before the coup d’etat that took place on August 30, 2023.  The charges included: High Treason, International Financial Malpractices (money laundering), Fraud, Drug Trafficking, Corruption, Forging the Signature of the President of the Republic, among others. The former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, also faced the same charges, as she and her eldest son, Noureddin, were in fact partners in crime.

Meanwhile, Noureddin Bongo Valentin and the six other members of the “Young Team”, first appeared in court to face the Examining Magistrate of the matter, on September 19, 2023. According to ‘Agence France Presse’ (French News Agency), the court session was not opened to the public.

Former First Lady Meets Examining Magistrate / « Presidential Communication»

As for the, former First Lady, what many people did not know, was that while the ousted President, Ali Bongo, was released from house arrest barely one week after the coup d’etat, his wife, Sylvia, was  maintained under house arrest. Sylvia Bongo was held under house arrest for over one month.

Then in the morning of Wednesday, October 11, 2023, the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, was on the instruction of the Examining Magistrate, that was handling the file of alleged embezzlement of public funds involving her, taken out of the house arrest to the High Court in the Gabonese capital’s, Libreville. There, she was first taken to a court room, for a ‘confrontation’ with the former Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, who was brought in from the Central Prison.

The information was contained in a report that The Mentor News monitored over the Gabonese, State TV. The report was referred to as “Presidential Communication”.  TV images showed Mrs Sylvia Bongo who was simply dressed in T. Shirt and trouser, enter the court room. She was directed to sit on a bench.  Directly opposite her was another bench on which sat Laccruche Alihanga and his three legal counsels (two males and one female). Mrs Sylvia Bongo was all alone on her bench, without a legal counsel.

The TV report did not show how the ‘confrontation’ between Laccuche Alihanga and Mrs Sylvia Bongo rolled on.  However, TV images of the report, showed that at the end of the ‘confrontation’ between Laccruche and Mrs Bongo, the former left the court room with his lawyers, while the latter remained seated on the bench, all alone.

Meanwhile according to the TV report, after the face –to –face confrontation between Mrs Sylvia Bongo and Laccruche ended in the afternoon of Wednesday, October 11, 2023, Mrs Bongo was taken to the office of the Examining Magistrate, where she was interrogated for several hours. She was held there up to the wee hours of Thursday, October 12, when she was taken to the Central Prison in Libreville for pre-trial detention. TV images showed her being taken away from the court premises that late night, by plain cloth security men, with her head covered with a pullover, as if to hide her face. The news item presented by the State TV, rightly referred to the drama, which saw the former powerful First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, leaves from Gabon’s Presidency to the Libreville Central Prison for pre-trial detention, as ‘Affaire l’Inedit’,  That is,  a strange or unprecedented happening. How the mighty can fall!

Former Director Of Cabinet’s Lawyers, Made Declarations To State Media

Meanwhile, when the lawyers of the incarcerated former Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, left the court room with their client on that October 11, 2023, the lawyers in fact went out to make declarations to the State TV crew, against Mrs Bongo. It looked like something was planned by the authorities. Laccruche Alihanga’s lawyers, that presented Mrs Sylvia Bongo as a sort of pathological liar, disclosed to the State media, that during the ‘confrontation’ between the former First Lady and former Director of Cabinet, the former First Lady flatly denied all what their client’s said as regard the disbursements of money to her, and that she persisted in her denial even when evidences were allegedly presented. They also accused Mrs Bongo of having displayed a condescending attitude towards Laccruche and them. They said she had perhaps, not yet realized that, she was no longer the First Lady of Gabon.

As typical of lawyers, Laccruche’s lawyers painted their client to be as white as an angel, insisting that he was innocent of the charges of embezzlement of public funds.  Again, as typical of lawyers, Laccruche’s lawyers in talking to the media pushed the entire culpability, for the embezzlement of hundreds of billions of francs CFA of public funds, on Mrs Bongo. Even though the case was still to be heard, the lawyers  of the former Director of Cabinet, said that they  looked forward to the rapid liberation of their client, and also wondered what would be done to repair the  image of their ‘innocent client’, that has been so badly damaged by his imprisonment for alleged embezzlement of public funds.

The Former Director of Cabinet Was Certainly Involved In The Embezzlement

From the look of things, Laccruche Alihanga’s lawyers were trying to manipulate public opinion, to see their client as an innocent man in the embezzlement case.  One thing the lawyers evaded to talk about, was, the legality of the acts that their client allegedly carried out. Was it legal or right for the Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, to demand and collect huge sums of public funds from the Minister of Finance and others, falsely claiming to be doing so in the name of the President of the Republic, Ali Bongo, who was still bed ridden, and then to turn around and hand all the money to the First Lady as he claimed?  It was also difficult to believe that the Director of Cabinet, Laccruche Alihanga, that became so wealthy and powerful in Gabon, did not also embezzle part of the large sums of public money that were often in his keeping, or that he demanded and received from some members of Government, purportedly in the name of President Ali Bongo.

Meanwhile, it was not explained in the “Presidential Communication” presented by the State TV, why the imprisoned Former Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Brice Laccruche  Alihanga, was allowed to come to court for the face –to – face confrontation on October 11, 2023 accompanied by his lawyers,  while on the other hand, the Former First Lady,  Mrs Sylvia Bongo, was brought to court without any legal counsel. Legal minds would consider such a situation as being unfair to the former First Lady. Also, the lawyers of Laccruche Alihanga at the end of the court session, spoke to the State media, which appeared to had been the only media organ present in court premises, while there was nobody (lawyer) to give Mrs Sylvia Bongo’s own side of the story, as she was brought to court without a lawyer or legal counsel. The ‘Presidential Communication’ was thus indisputably unbalanced.

Military Regime Seemed To Had Taken Side In The Matter, Against Former First Lady

There is no doubt that the former First Lady, Mrs Sylvia Bongo, who was reportedly notorious for living an extravagant life just like her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo, Valentin, viciously or callously exploited her husband’s health situation, following the severe stroke he suffered in 2018, to indulge in the embezzlement of huge amount of public funds, together with her eldest son. This was done with the complicity of the former Director of Cabinet, Laccruche Alihanga, who served as their agent.  But to say that  Laccruche  who  too was reportedly living a life of affluence when he was the powerful Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, did not also take advantage of the situation of President Ali Bongo to embezzle, was definitely not true. It is also certain that Mrs Bongo and her son used to give Laccruche a sizable envelop or his own share of the booty, whenever he successful carried out a deal for them.

But it appeared as if the new military regime in Gabon, headed by Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, the cousin of the ousted President, Ali Bongo, had decided to liberate the former Director of Cabinet in the big embezzlement scandal, and put everything on the former First Lady.   This was seemingly the case, especially when one considered that the declarations that were made by Lacchruche Alihanga’s lawyers, against Mrs Sylvia Bongo, were part of what the State media presented as « Presidential Communication ».  It looked like the target of the new Military Leader of Gabon, General Oligui Nguema, was the former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, as well as her eldest son, Noureddin, and his gang (“Young Team”).

Former Director Of Cabinet, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, Released

Meanwhile, the former First Lady of Gabon, French born Sylvia Bongo, from the early hours of Thursday, October 12, 2023, started cooling her feet at the Central Prison in the nation’s capital, Libreville, on pre-trial detention for alleged embezzlement of hundreds of billions of francs CFA of public funds, at the time she was First Lady.

But less than two weeks after the former First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo, was thrown into the Central Prison in Libreville for pre –trial detention, the former Director of Cabinet, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, was quietly released from the  same prison where he had been since 2021.  No reason was given by the authorities for the release.  Without any surprise, the former Director of Cabinet, Laccruche Alihanga, after his release from jail, was quoted to have slammed the Former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, as well as the ousted regime of Ali Bongo. Laccruche on the other hand praised the new military regime headed by Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oilgui Nguema.

It should be noted that boththe former First Lady, Sylvia Bongo, and the former Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, are both French citizens, and that it was Mrs Sylvia Bongo who then as First Lady, influenced her husband’s decision to appoint Laccruche as Director of Cabinet at the Presidency. Then, Laccruche considered Mrs Sylvia Bongo as “Grand Soeur” (Big Sister).