Gabon jails nine Bongo associates for embezzlement and corruption

Gabon’s Specialized Criminal Court delivered a landmark verdict on Tuesday: nine former collaborators of Sylvia and Noureddin Bongo were sentenced to two to fifteen years in prison for massive embezzlement of public funds, corruption, and money laundering.

This ruling comes just six days after Sylvia and Noureddin Bongo themselves were sentenced in absentia to twenty years of criminal imprisonment.

Calling it “a historic moment for our country,” Court President Jean Mexant Essa Assoumou closed an eight-day trial broadcast live across Gabon. Of the ten defendants, members of the so-called “Young Team”, nine were convicted, and all must repay billions of CFA francs in damages to the State.

Arrested during the 2023 coup, the group was accused of helping divert colossal sums from public coffers. Prosecutors described a vast scheme in which “the people’s money was taken, recycled, laundered, and reinvested in disconnected luxury” throughout Ali Bongo’s 14-year rule.

According to investigators, the Bongos allegedly used these funds to buy oil fields, two Boeing aircraft, and luxury assets across Gabon, Morocco, and London with total embezzlement estimated at 4.9 trillion CFA francs, nearly 7.5 billion euros.