Gabon: When the president's palace runs on oil (or the oil mafia of Gabon)

Even if Ali Bongo tries to revitalize the oil and gas sector, the President’s Palace (called La Presidence) always keeps the upper hand in this strategic sector ... for the family. Here's how.

As his father who did not trust anybody else but Samuel Dossou of Benin, Gabon's crude oil trader through his company Petrolin in Geneva, Ali Bongo has entrusted the management of Gabon’s rich oil production to another Beninese, and his sherpa Maixent Accrombessi, his chief of staff. To manage licenses and royalties directly, the “Palace at border of the Sea” (the other name of the President’s official residence) has created the public company Gabon Oil Co (GOC). Since June 28, it is led by Serge Brice Toulekima. On the Teke tribe of Bongoville as the Gabonese President and son of the late Colonel of Gendarmerie (branch of gabonese army) Marcel Toulekima, Serge Brice Toulekima is a close friend of Maixent Accrombessi. He has worked for Chevron in Australia, then in Shell subsidiary in Gabon, before returning to the company headquarters in The Hague (Netherlands).

Samuel Dossou whose son Steve married Malika Bongo, the eldest daughter of Ali Bongo, remains essential in the area. It manages the oil and mining on behalf of the country. His mother Honorine Dossou-Naki, a former ambassador of Gabon in Paris, is High Representative of the President in charge of setting up free tax zone of Mandji Island in the oil capital Port-Gentil. Other High Representative of the Head of State, Pascaline Bongo still sits on behalf of the state on the board of directors of the subsidiary of Total in Gabon, Total Gabon. The father of the first lady, Sylvia Bongo, French, Edouard Valentin, is no exception. Boss of the company Ogar Life Insurance (Ogar-Vie), it could diversify its activities covering the oil sector. We stay with your family!

Unaccustomed to the corridors of the President’s Palace, the minister of mines and oil, Alexandre Barro-Chambrier, and the director of hydrocarbons, Alliat Antsélévé-Oyima, brother of the director of the powerful (bank) BGFI, Henri-Claude Oyima, seem marginalized. Within this ministry, it is rather Robert Midiba who manages to hold its own in the game. Comilog (Eramet) former engineer and close friend of Maixent Accrombessi, he reports regularly to the presidency about revenues of oil companies located in Gabon. The Head of state (Ali Bongo) also privileged few nationals in the sector of petroleum products marketing and sales, like his "brother of light" (of the same masonry lodge) Jean-Baptiste Bikalou. President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Gabon (IGAC), the latter leads Petro Gabon, gabonese capital private company, whose BGFI is a major shareholder with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paul Toungui, companion Pascaline Bongo.

Source : Intelligence.fr Africa