In a decision published on Thursday, the Federal Criminal Court rejects the request to lift the sequestration in an amount of nearly 12 million dollars deposited in a Swiss bank. This sum is part of the Santullo group's assets frozen at the request of the Gabonese authorities.

The decision concerns nearly 17 million dollars sequestered in July 2018 by the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Republic and Canton of Geneva (MP-GE) in connection with the investigation for suspicions of money laundering and bribery of foreign public officials opened a year earlier against Guido Santullo. This entrepreneur of Italian origin died at the end of August 2018.

Guido Santullo was suspected of bribing Gabonese officials so that his construction company, the Groupement Santullo Sericom Gabon SA has been awarded ten public contracts worth a total of 730 million francs. These sums were then allegedly laundered, in Switzerland in particular.