Libreville called on Henri Proglio to revive its water and electricity sectors. The former boss of Veolia Environnement before being fired for his post in 2012 signed, on November 25, after an interview with Ali Bongo at the Gabonese presidency, a consultancy contract relating to the conditions for relaunching the Company of energy and water from Gabon (SEEG). This company was a subsidiary of the Veolia group until the termination of its concession, at the unilateral initiative of Libreville, in 2018.
Having become an international consultant on energy and water issues, Henri Proglio had looked at Gabon with interest for a long time, cherishing the hope of being appointed advisor to the Gabonese head of state. Long before the departure of Veolia, he had carried out several missions, in this sense, in Libreville. He had relied in particular on Anne Hommel, “historical” communicator of the former director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strass-Khan, also founder of the Majorelle PR & Events agency, to access the Palais du bord de Wed.
For this new mission, Henri Proglio set up a technical team led by Patrice Fonlladosa. The latter is on conquered ground. Former president of the Africa Committee of the French employers’ organization Medef, he is best known for having been the irremovable “Mr. Africa” of Véolia for more than twenty years. In 2018, he was fired due to a heavy internal disagreement on the management of the litigation related to the expulsion of the group led by Antoine Frérot. According to Financial Afrik sources, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, son of Ali Bongo and coordinator of presidential affairs since the end of 2019, attended the interview with Henri Proglio. The latter also took advantage of his stay to dine with the presidential couple.