PH
The son of former Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba and dozens of his friends have been charged with high treason and corruption, the state prosecutor said AFP on Wednesday.
Bongo’s eldest son Noureddin Bongo Valentin and former presidential spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha, as well as four others close to the deposed leader, “have been charged and placed in provisional detention,” said Libreville prosecutor Andre-Patrick Roponat.
Bongo, 64, who had ruled the oil-rich country of Central Africa since 2009, was deposed by military authorities on August 30, only moments after being declared the winner of a presidential election.
The opposition and military coup leaders have called the outcome a sham and have accused his rule of pervasive corruption and poor governance.
Soldiers seized one of Bongo’s sons, five top cabinet members, and his wife Sylvia Bongo Valentin on the same day as the coup.
National television broadcast rolling photos of persons arrested in front of luggage supposedly containing cash seized from their homes.
