Franco-Gabonese, Bongo Ondimba Valentin, the ex-wife of former president Ali Bongo, was accused with money laundering, forgery, and record falsification on September 28.
According to Gabonese media sources, the 60-year-old was detained in a jail in the nation’s capital Libreville after a protracted court hearing and was locked up late on Wednesday, according to her Paris-based lawyer Francois Zimeray.
Sylvia Bongo has been living under house arrest in Libreville ever since the coup on August 30 put an end to the Bongo dynasty’s 55-year rule.
Moments after being declared the victor of a presidential election, military leaders deposed Ali Bongo, 64, who had controlled the nation of central Africa since 2009.
The opposition and the architects of the military coup have also accused his rule of extensive corruption and poor leadership, branding the election results a fraud.
The 2018 putschists claim that Sylvia Bongo misled the former president, who is still dealing with the repercussions of a major stroke.
They assert that for the previous five years, she and one of the couple’s sons essentially controlled the country’s oil industry and misappropriated state funds.
The French attorneys for Sylvia Bongo had expressed concern about what they claimed “appears to be a hostage-taking” and had separated Sylvia from her husband.
“We condemned this illegal procedure,” lawyer Zimeray said on Thursday following her jailing.
“There is a difference between justice and arbitrary actions, between the law and revenge.”
The couple’s eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, is accused of stealing state monies together with a number of former cabinet members and two ex-ministers.
