Ali Bongo criticizes Libreville over ‘ill-gotten gains’ case, despite state being a civil party under his presidency

Ali Bongo Ondimba broke several months of silence on Saturday, September 19, 2026, to contest the terms used by the Gabonese Republic in the French case concerning “ill-gotten gains.” The state had already joined this legal proceeding as a civil party during his presidency.

The former head of state claims he does not dispute the substance of the judicial process, but rather the way in which recent statements from Libreville call into question the memory of his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba. In his video statement, he asserts that a son can accept the judgment of his father’s political actions without accepting that his memory is “sullied.”

The disagreement thus centers on the arguments currently put forth by the Gabonese Republic, rather than on the very existence of its status as a civil party. This status stems from a judicial sequence initiated while Ali Bongo was still in office.

In March 2021, Transparency International France was already contesting the Gabonese Republic’s status as a civil party before the judge. After a refusal from the investigating judge in February 2022, Libreville appealed. On March 14, 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal ultimately recognized the Gabonese state’s status as a civil party, more than five months before the coup d’état on August 30.

An archive published by Le Monde in June 2011 shows that this judicial strategy was even older. The newspaper reported at the time that Patrick Maisonneuve, Ali Bongo’s lawyer, had decided to involve the Gabonese state as a civil party in the case.

The timeline was brought back into focus on Sunday by Marc Ona Essangui. The senator and civil society figure reminded that the French procedure originated from associative initiatives starting in 2007, prior to the direct involvement of the Gabonese state. The French investigation into “ill-gotten gains” was closed in 2025 after nearly fifteen years of inquiry.

This timeline does not imply that the legal arguments defended today by Libreville are identical to those of the past. Ali Akbar Onanga Y’Obegue, a former official of the Gabonese Democratic Party, stated on September 16 that the civil party status obtained in 2023 allowed the state to defend its patrimonial interests without obliging it to adopt all accusations against Omar Bongo.

The decision of the Court of Appeal dates back to March 14, 2023. Ali Bongo remained in office until August 30, 2023, when the military announced his ousting following the presidential election.