France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) has requested that 18 individuals, including nine children of former Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba, and five companies be sent to trial over allegations involving assets allegedly acquired through misappropriated public funds.
The move marks a major development in the long-running “ill-gotten gains” case, which centres on luxury properties and other assets allegedly purchased in France using illicit funds. French prosecutors estimate the value of the assets under investigation at about €85 million.
The case targets members of the Bongo family, which governed Gabon from 1967 until the fall of Omar Bongo’s son, Ali Bongo, in August 2023.
Among those named is Pascaline Bongo, Omar Bongo’s eldest daughter and former Chief of staff. She is accused of offences including receiving stolen public funds, money laundering, corruption and misuse of company assets.
Other family members facing possible trial include Omar Denis Junior Bongo and several other children of the former President. Former Gabonese President Ali Bongo, who ruled from 2009 to 2023, is not part of the current proceedings.
The prosecutors’ request also includes Antoinette Sassou-Nguesso, the wife of Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. Former Miss France Sonia Rolland has also been named in the case over an apartment she received in 2003 from Edith Bongo, the late wife of Omar Bongo. Rolland has maintained that the property was a gift.
Several companies are also facing prosecution, including BNP Paribas, which prosecutors allege handled at least €35 million linked to illicit funds. Four real estate companies are also accused of benefiting from tens of millions of euros allegedly injected by the Bongo family.
Investigators have particularly focused on Atelier 74, a Gabonese interior design company that was reportedly responsible for sourcing and renovating properties for the Bongo family until 2009. Prosecutors allege that the firm received more than €53 million in cash. BNP Paribas has denied responsibility, although one of its executives reportedly acknowledged a “failure” in internal controls during investigations.
The investigating magistrate will now decide whether the accused persons and companies will face trial. The case follows France’s first major “ill-gotten gains” trial involving an African leader, in which Teodorín Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, son of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang, was sentenced on appeal in 2020 to a three-year suspended prison term and fined €30 million.