The detentions came as news circulated about over a hundred million dollars in state funds having “evaporated" from the Gabon Oil Company alone.
The eight suspects were nabbed as part of an ongoing anti-corruption effort, called Operation Mamba, that recently saw the arrests of several top officials, Al Jazeera reported
Prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat announced the detentions on Gabonese national television. He was appointed to his position earlier this month, replacing Olivier N'zahou.
Operation Mamba was launched in 2017 by President Ali Bongo and has so far seen Bongo's former secretary Brice Laccruche Alihanga dismissed in November.
Earlier this week, lawyers told AFP news agency that, among dozens of others, the former director general of the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAMGS), Renaud Allogho Akoue was detained as well as presidential spokesman Ike Ngouoni, who was questioned over ties to Alihanga.
