The wife and son of ousted President Ali Bongo were sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison after a Gabonese court found they had embezzled public funds and exploited the former president’s ill health following his 2018 stroke, running the country for their own profit.
A Gabonese court on Wednesday sentenced former First Lady Sylvia Bongo and her son Noureddin Bongo Valentin to 20 years in prison for embezzlement, bribery, money laundering, and other corruption-related offenses. Both were tried and sentenced in absentia while living in exile in London.
The court also ordered each to pay a fine of 100 million CFA francs (about $177,000). In addition, Noureddin Bongo must pay 1.2 trillion CFA francs (nearly $2.1 billion) in damages, while the two were jointly ordered to pay another 1 trillion CFA francs (more than $1.7 billion) for “moral harm” against the state.
The verdict followed a two-day trial in which the court found that Sylvia Bongo and her son siphoned state funds while former President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s health declined after a stroke in 2018.
A few days before the trial, Noureddin Bongo, 33, said he would not attend the proceedings, claiming he had been tortured during his imprisonment in Gabon, according to French newspaper Le Point. He denied all accusations, saying he had “never embezzled a single CFA franc.”
Following the military coup that ousted Ali Bongo in August 2023, Sylvia and Noureddin Bongo, both also holding French citizenship, were detained for 20 months before being released on bail in May 2025. The former president, who is not facing prosecution, was also released in May after being placed under house arrest and is now living in Angola.
Ali Bongo ruled Gabon for 14 years, succeeding his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, who led the Central African nation for nearly 42 years.
