(Ecofin Agency) - The Gabonese President Ali Bongo announced, on 15 September, that he would transfer two luxurious properties to the State of Gabon.

“And the State, it is not me (...) I wish to share what I have received with the Gabonese people”, he declared on the airwaves of Europe 1, with the assurance of having already transferred a property in Libreville to the State.

The Gabonese Head of State had announced in a speech on 17 August, on the occasion of the 55^th independence anniversary of his country, having decided to give “all his share of the inheritance” from his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who died in 2009, “to the Gabonese Youth”.

Ali Bongo also noted that the case known as ill-gotten gains is “a political case”. “The Justice system is being used. This has been going on for eight years... Those who came first to raise this issue have never provided proof of anything”, he claimed.

Started in 2010 by French magistrates following an accusation by the Sherpa Association, which is active “in defending populations that are victims of economic crimes throughout the world”, the investigation on ill-gotten gains concerns the means by which three African Heads of State (Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, Teodoro Obiang and the deceased Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba) acquired considerable immovable and movable assets in France.