Maixent Accrombessi, who is very close to Gabonese leader Ali Bongo Ondimba, was detained at Paris’s main Charles de Gaulle airport “for corruption of a foreign public official”, said a French judicial source, who wished to remain anonymous.
However, a few hours later, his lawyer Francis Szpiner told AFP: “He is leaving soon for Gabon and will continue to carry out his duties.”
The arrest sparked fury in Gabon. A presidential statement “protested strongly” against the arrest which “violates the fundamental principles of international law.”
The case in question has “nothing to do with his duties as chief-of-staff” and is an attempt to “humiliate” Accrombessi and “attack” Gabon, the statement said.
The arrest is part of a probe by Paris prosecutors into the 2006 awarding of a contract in Gabon to a French military uniforms manufacturer.
Accrombessi is hugely influential in Gabon, having worked with Bongo when he was defence minister, and again when he became president.