Corruption is Everywhere > Opposition Leader, former PM of Gabon, arrested

It's always a question for me as to whether this is genuinely about corruption rather than a political stunt.

 

Gabon opposition leader Bilie-By-Nze placed in pre-trial detention

Africa

Gabon’s main opposition leader and former prime minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze was placed in pre-trial detention Thursday night following his arrest over allegations of fraud and breach of trust linked to a 2008 cultural festival. The case has sparked criticism from his party, which says the move is politically motivated.

Gabon’s former prime minister and main opposition leader was placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday night, according to sources cited by AFP.

Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, arrested at his home on Wednesday evening, is under investigation for alleged fraud and breach of trust, prosecutor Dick Fabrice Boungou Mikolo said in a statement.

A senior member of Bilie-By-Nze’s party, speaking on condition of anonymity, and a source close to the case both told AFP the vocal government critic was taken into custody Thursday evening.

According to a statement from his party Ensemble pour le Gabon (EPG), which described the arrest as “brutal and clearly against the basic principles of the rule of law”, the case dates back to 2008.

The prosecutor said the investigation follows a complaint filed by a Gabonese citizen “implicating” Bilie-By-Nze.

“The alleged facts concern the non-repayment of a sum of five million CFA francs (around 7,625 euros) which he is said to have received following the organisation” of a cultural festival, the prosecutor added.

The EPG said the case was linked to debt the Gabonese state failed to pay at the time, when Bilie-By-Nze was head of the festival’s organising committee.

It said a third party is now demanding payment, “imputing it personally to Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, even though he was acting in an institutional framework”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)