Top Gabon aide resigns after named in bank probe

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - A top aide to Gabon's new President Ali Ben Bongo resigned on Monday after being named by media as implicated in an investigation into some 40 million euros of losses at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC).

Bongo's cabinet director Jean-Pierre Oyiba was cited in the latest edition of the weekly Jeune Afrique magazine as one of several officials to have allegedly benefited from the bank, which issues the currency of the central African franc zone.

"I decided today to resign to devote myself entirely to my defence and cooperate with the justice system of my country, in which I have complete faith," Oyiba said in a statement read out on state television.

BEAC member states had pledged in September to investigate the nature of the losses made by the bank, where an auditing committee is already investigating alleged embezzlement of finances during the 2004-2008 period.

At his first cabinet meeting since taking over from his late father Omar, Bongo last month recalled BEAC head Philibert Andzembe, and promised to arrest any Gabonese officials implicated in the affair.

The BEAC defines monetary policy for the mainly oil-producing states of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad and Congo Republic.

Its headquarters is in Cameroon's capital Yaounde but the losses centre around the activities of its delegation office in Paris.