Leading French bank BNP Paribas has been charged with laundering tens of millions of euro in Gabonese public funds. Radio France International reported the development as part of a long-running investigation into luxury real estate acquired in France by the family of the late Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba.
Gabon’s second president ruled for 42 years from 1967 until his death in 2009.
The investigation uncovered that the bank “failed in its due diligence obligations” for not reporting to the authorities a suspicious bank account through which tens of millions of euro were allegedly used by the Bongo family to acquire real estate in France.
Investigators from the Interior Ministry’s Central Office for Major Financial Crimes (OCRGDF) found that the Bongo family acquired 12 properties in Paris and Nice for nearly €32 million ($39.1 million) as of the 1990s onwards.
According to the OCRGDF, “the systematic use of cashier’s cheques…should have alerted the bank,” which played a “leading” role in the money laundering scheme.
“It is difficult to believe that the bank at that time did not ask for proof of transfer: the origin of the funds, the existence of contracts or agreements between these two entities,” the OCRGDF said.
The case was first opened in 2010. However, charges of money laundering and misappropriating public funds were issued against BNP as part of the so-called “ill-gotten gains” inquiry, according to Radio France International.
William Bourdon, a lawyer from Transparency International, has described the case as a “historic first” in the country. A French bank has never been directly blamed for such a crime of this magnitude, Radio France International reported.
Between 2002 and 2009, a fraudulent transaction occurred linked to the account of a French interior design company, Atelier 74. The company was in charge of finding properties for the Gabonese first family and renovating them for huge amounts.
