Former Miss France questioned in Gabon fraud inquiry

French police have questioned a former Miss France as part of an investigation into alleged corruption by Gabon’s former ruler Omar Bongo, sources close to the inquiry said Monday.

Sonia Rolland, who was voted Miss France in 2000, was questioned by France’s anti-fraud squad in January over an apartment she was offered by Bongo in 2003, the sources said, confirming a report in the French daily Liberation.

Rolland told investigators the apartment in the posh 16th arrondissement of Paris, valued at around 800,000 euros ($940,000), was a gift from Bongo and his wife Edith for her patronage of a Miss Africa competition.

Since 2010, French police have been investigating several luxury properties bought by Bongo in France, which anti-corruption activists allege were acquired with embezzled state funds.

In April 2016, French judges seized properties belonging to the family of Bongo including a villa in Nice and a Paris mansion.

The inquiry clouded Bongo’s final months in power before his death in 2009, when his son Ali Bongo Ondimba took control of the oil-rich African nation.

Rolland could not be reached for comment by AFP.