Luxury cars, lavish Parisian apartments – the Bongo family has been targeted by the French justice system for enriching themselves with Gabonese public funds through a widespread corruption scheme. Brice Oligui Nguema, cousin of Ali Bongo and appointed “president of the transition” by the coup leaders, is also suspected of personal enrichment, according to an American anti-corruption organization.
Just four months after coming to power in October 2009, Ali Bongo spared no expense. The Gabonese president then purchased 29 luxury cars. Rolls Royce, Mercedes Maybach, Bentley… Through a Swiss company (SDP), this order amounted to around 15 million euros.
In 2014, France 24’s Observers obtained evidence of this purchase, which added to a fleet of several hundred luxurious vehicles owned by his father, Omar Bongo. The contract does not specify who would use these cars or in what context. However, a former employee of the SDP company in Gabon revealed that the head of state regularly went out for high-speed drives in some of these cars, followed by his bodyguards’ vehicles. This has been confirmed by other local sources to the Observers.
Protected by his presidential immunity, Ali Bongo, who is suspected of enriching himself with Gabonese public funds – like his family members pursued in France in the case of ill-gotten assets – has so far evaded any legal action during his terms. But his removal caused by the coup on August 30 could change the situation.
However, Maître William Bourdon, the lawyer for the NGO Transparency International, a civil party in the French case of ill-gotten assets, doubts this. “Regardless of the considerable suspicions of enrichment that weigh on him, it would be paradoxical for the judges to seize this loss of power to pursue him, even though it is the result of an illegitimate coup,” he said on France Inter.
Nevertheless, the weakening of the clan leader could lead to new revelations about the Bongo family’s estimated fortune of several hundred million euros. This hidden fortune was brought to light by fifteen years of investigation by the justice system, starting with the first complaints filed in 2007 against Omar Bongo.
85 million euros fraudulently acquired
In total, nine members of the extended Bongo family – children and grandchildren of Omar Bongo – have so far been indicted in this case of ill-gotten assets. In 2022, they were accused of concealing misappropriation of public funds, active and passive corruption, and abuse of corporate assets.
According to Médiapart’s investigation, Omar Bongo had “the particularity of building a series of matrimonial alliances, constantly expanding the family circle: he has several dozen children – he recognized around fifty, including several he adopted.”
In the case of ill-gotten assets, nine of them are suspected of inheriting real estate assets estimated at 85 million euros, fraudulently acquired with Gabonese public funds. These assets include sixteen villas in Nice, as well as around thirty apartments and townhouses in the most prestigious neighborhoods of Paris.
According to the ruling of the Paris Court of Appeal in February 2022, this “immense fortune” comes “from money obtained through misappropriation of public funds and considerable sums resulting from the crime of corruption involving oil companies,” including Elf Aquitaine, now TotalEnergies.
In this case, the French bank BNP Parisbas was also indicted in 2021 for “money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.” According to the investigations, “the bank failed in its duty of vigilance by not reporting suspicions” between 2002 and 2009 regarding the “atypical operation of an account of a French interior decoration company, responsible for finding real estate for the Gabonese president’s family and renovating them for several million euros.”
Ali Bongo’s 4,754m2 mansion
While the investigations conducted by the French justice system have shed some light on the extent of the Bongo clan’s fortune, it still remains a mystery. Journalist Fabrice Arfi estimates it at 460 million euros, based on notarial documents he accessed after Omar Bongo’s death in 2009.
More recently, on August 24, Le Canard enchaîné directly implicated Ali Bongo, revealing in its columns the plans to transform a 4,674m2 mansion, purchased for 100 million euros in 2010 by Gabon on Ali Bongo’s orders, into a diplomatic residence.
Le Gabon est proprio à Paris d'un hôtel particulier de 4 674 m2, acheté 100 M€ en 2010 sur ordre de son président. Aujourd'hui, Ali Bongo essaie de dissimuler son emplette en la camouflant en adresse diplomatique. Avec la bénédiction du quai d'Orsay…
➡️ https://t.co/Tpwe6OCaMI pic.twitter.com/TqvXHtQ0c6
— Le Canard enchaîné (@canardenchaine) August 24, 2023
The endemic corruption in Gabon and the poor governance of the Bongo dynasty were at the forefront of the opposition’s speeches during the presidential campaign in August. Will their demands be heard by the transitional authorities?
Brice Oligui Nguema, appointed “president of the transition” by the coup leaders on Wednesday, is not unfamiliar with the Bongo clan, as he is the first cousin of the ousted president. While he is not mentioned in the case of ill-gotten assets, he is suspected of personal enrichment. According to the American anti-corruption organization OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), between 2015 and 2018, he allegedly purchased three properties in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in the United States, for a total amount exceeding 1 million dollars in cash.