The public prosecutor announced on Friday that Ali Bongo Ondimba‘s wife had been charged with “money laundering” and other offenses, month after a coup overthrew her husband.
Since her husband was deposed on August 30 moments after being declared the winner of a presidential election, Sylvia Bongo Valentin has been placed under house arrest in the nation’s capital.
Noureddin Bongo Valentin, her oldest son, has already been charged of corruption.
Prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat stated on state TV networks on Friday that a court conducting the investigation had charged the former first lady on Thursday.
Roponat stated that her house arrest order had also been enforced.
This month, one of her attorneys claimed that she was being held “incommunicado outside of any legal framework.”
The son of the Bongos, Noureddin, has already been harged with embezzling public funds together with a number of former cabinet members and two ex-ministers.
Ali Bongo took over when his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.
Currently 64 years old, Bongo ruled the country until his removal in August following the presidential election.
The opposition and the leaders of the military coup declared the election results to be fraudulent, and they also charged his government with extensive corruption and poor leadership.
Source-Aljazeera
