The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) has requested that BNP Paribas bank, as well as children of Omar Bongo, the late president of Gabon, be sent to trial in Paris as part of an investigation into Gabonese assets fraudulently acquired in France, AFP learned Monday from a judicial source.

In total, the PNF is requesting the referral of 23 natural or legal persons: five companies - BNP Paribas and four real estate companies - and 18 individuals, including children of Omar Bongo, but also the wife of the current president of Congo, Antoinette Sassou Nguesso, according to the same source.

According to a source close to the case, he is also requesting the dismissal of former Miss France and actress Sonia Rolland.

In this case, 52 fraudulently acquired properties were seized, according to the judicial source.

A judicial investigation has been underway since the end of 2010, following a complaint from Transparency International.

The properties were allegedly acquired with money from "Françafrique," a powerful system of corruption, political patronage, and exclusive commercial interests between Paris and its former colonies on the African continent. This system gave rise to the "Elf affair," at the heart of which were secret commissions paid by the French oil company—since absorbed by TotalEnergies—to Omar Bongo, who died in 2009, and his inner circle.

According to information obtained by AFP, French authorities believe that Omar Bongo gave tens of millions of euros in cash to a Gabonese interior design company, Atelier 74, to finance real estate acquisitions. The money was then transferred to the company's French bank account.

For BNP Paribas, which has been under investigation since May 2021, referral is requested for aggravated money laundering, including corruption and embezzlement of public funds, according to the judicial source.

The French bank is accused of having allowed, between 1996 and 2008, the Bongo family and their relatives, via Atelier 74, "to convert funds of criminal origin into real estate transactions, amounting to at least 35 million euros", according to elements of the PNF indictment which AFP has seen.

During questioning, BNP Paribas acknowledged shortcomings and failures, but denied any "fraudulent intent".