Looking Back at the Messi Messi Afair (2): "The Interview that Shook the World"

By Dibussi Tande

In an explosive interview that filled 24 pages (Jeune Afrique Economie. "Ainsi a été Pillé la SCB," May 1992, pp. 106-130), Robert Messi Messi, the former General Manager of the bankrupt SCB sang like a canary. Using documents that he had smuggled out of the country, he detailed how the “Presidential couple” and their entourage had pillaged the SCB.

 

Click here to download the complete Messi Messi interview (pdf)

Messi Messi described the IGERA charges against him as “fanciful accusations”. He insisted that the 49 billion FCFA that was supposedly missing from SCB coffers was “pure fabrication”, and that the bank never had that kind of money at any given time. Messi Messi revealed that the money he was being accused of having embezzled was part of the 3.5 billion FCFA taken from the bank by President Biya and his wife, Jeanne Irene, mainly to construct the president’s private palace in his village of Mvomeka’a.

According to Messi Messi, the presidential couple had unrestricted access to SCB funds and made liberal use of that access. He described how the First Lady would summon him regularly to the Presidential palace with demands to have cash directly withdrawn from SCB coffers. According to Messi Messi, she was the one who oversaw the payments to Olivier Cacoub, the Franco-Tunisian architect who constructed the Mvomeka’a palace. A first installment of 500 million FCFA was paid to Cacoub in March 1988 and a second, totaling roughly 1.2 billion FCFA, was paid in August. A third installment was supposed to be paid on September 15 of that same year.

Another 299 million FCFA was used to construct a landing strip in the President’s village.

According to Messi Messi, all these financial transactions occurred without the knowledge of either the Ministry of Finance or the Central Bank: “I worked directly with Etoudi Palace”, he insisted

Messi Messi confessed that due to pressure from the President and his wife, he granted astronomical loans to individuals in their inner circle who had no means to repay them, prominent among these, was Dr. Edzoa Titus, Biya’s personal doctor at the time, and the garrulous General Aso’o Emane Benoit. Hel also mentioned the account of another Presidential protégée, Mva’a Albert, which was in the red for the whopping sum of 3.551.149.501 FCFA at the time Messi Messi left the bank. Aze’e Jeremie who was in charge of the Presidential poultry farm had an authorization granting him unlimited and unrestricted access to the bank’s cash reserves.

Messi Messi claimed that other loans were granted to various members of the Presidential family through sheer “nepotism” and “favoritism”. For example, about 70 million FCFA was given to Marie Mengue, the President’s younger sister, to construct a villa in Yaounde.

Messi Messi also gave examples of raw cash being withdrawn from the bank on the first lady’s instructions:

• 400 million FCFA was given to Maitre Kack Kack, a CPDM alternate Member of Parliament, to purchase a piece of land for Mrs. Biya, and to construct a villa for himself in Yaounde. The villa was later rented out to the German Ambassador.
• 200 million FCFA was withdrawn from the bank to pay for the death celebrations of Biya’s elder brother, including the construction of his tombstone and marble mausoleum;
• Funds were also withdrawn to construct the residential quarters of the Presidential Guards in Mvomeka’a, including luxurious guest apartments, golf course, etc., etc

Chickens come to roost
According to Messi Messi, in August 1988, Sardou Hayatou, then Minister of Finance, informed him that experts from Credit Lyonais, a French bank which was interested in buying the moribund SCB would soon perform an audit of the SCB.  Messi Messi said that he immediately called Mrs. Biya to inform her that they were “in a difficult situation”. He recommended that she either ask Hayatou to  postpone the audit, or look for funds elsewhere to take care of the SCB deficit, even if only temporarily. Messi Messi says he was shocked when the very next day, the first lady instead sent her henchman, Mr. Mva’a Albert, demanding that he (Messi Messi) make another trip to Paris to deposit more funds into Cacoub’s account. Messi Messi claims he refused.

Two days later, sometime between August 24 and 25th, two metal trunks containing 1.5 billion FCFA were delivered to the SCB from the Presidency, to partially close up the SCB deficit.

And on August 28, 1988, Messi Messi was fired.

The Escape
On how and why he left Cameroon, Messi Messi claimed that sometime in 1989, the story of the SCB swindle leaked out, and he became the topic of conversation within the Yaounde jet set. He was summoned by Jean Fochive the head of Cameroon’s secret police, the Centre National de la Documentation et de la Recherche (CENER). Fochive informed him that the President was “very disturbed” by the SCB rumors, and demanded that Messi Messi turn over all documents concerning his dealings with Jeanne Irene Biya.

Suspecting that he was about to become the fall guy for the SCB debacle, Messi Messi asked Fochive for time to put the documents together. He then moved his family out of the country, while he clandestinely left for Geneva via Garoua and Niger. “I escaped because I feared that what had been done to Lawyer Ngongo and Father Mbassi could be done to me”.

National Outrage
Once the Messi Messi Interview became public knowledge, the reaction across the country was one of incredulity, shock and anger. The mood in the country was best captured by an editorial in the English of Le Messager (Vol. II No. 18, May 11, 1992) which described the scandal as a “repulsive and revulsive… story of blatant, arrogant looting by the first couple”:

"We in this newspaper are advocating that judiciary procedures be opened and that the president of the republic be impeached. The President has betrayed the confidence reposed on him by the population; in the eyes of the many, Biya is a white collar thief… Mr. Biya should speak out while the courts do their job. For this to happen, Art. 34 of the constitution… should be invoked… The court of Impeachment shall have jurisdiction in respect of acts performed by the President of the Republic for high treason and the Ministers and Vice Ministers for conspiracy against the security of the state."

A Challenge Hebdo editorial (No. 69 du 6 mai 1992) was equally scathing:

"After reading the interview we are ashamed. Ashamed for our country, ashamed for our intellectuals. A brilliant senior executive such as Messi Messi transformed into a ‘wretched errand boy’… What decay! What baseness! Yesterday it was piece of land that was stolen, today it is a bank that is pillaged… the image of our leaders reminds us of Emah Basile’s garbage bins on a rainy day. We are nauseated…”

But the President never responded to calls for an explanation of what happened really at the SCB. However, two Months later, Augustine Kontchou the Government spokesman and Minister of Communications was querried in Parliament about the President' silence. The spokesman explained the President's silence thus: As head of state, President Biya “cannot and should not” talk to the media every time a newspaper says something about him. Most importantly, as Head of the Supreme Council for Magistracy, President Biya found it difficult to comment on such a personal issue without leaving the impression that he intended to influence the course of justice. Hence, as long as the courts are still working on the Messi Messi dossier, it would be wrong for the President to speak. “This affair is a well orchestrated attempt at disinformation and manipulation”, the Minister concluded.

President Biya's silence did not however mean that the Government was taking the accusations lying down. On the contrary!

To be continued...

Click here for Part III of the Messi Messi Affair.

Comments

[JN Ngoh]

Dear Mr. Tande,
Thanks for this walk down memory lane. From time to time we all need to put things into perspective. This article exposes the recent 'anti-corruption' efforts by the greatest-of-thieves for what the truly are; pretentious manipulative lies.

[Ofori]

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE CAMEROON TO DECIPHER THE SITUATION IN WHICH IT FINDS ITSELF? HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE THIS NATION TO STAND UP AND SAY CAMEROON DOES NOT BELONG TO AN INDIVIDUAL? MOBUTU OF ZAIRE HAD ABOUT 32 YEARS. THAT NATION MAY NEVER STAND ON ITS OWN ECONOMY.

[Ngum]

Ha! HA! HA! Haba! Biya appointed himself chair of the anti-Corruption Commission! I now see why. The greatest thing that a leader can do is to leave a legacy of development and education and prosperity for his people, a real mark. The most stupid thing a leader can do is to become a thief. Biya cannot leave this earth a happy man, because he has squandered an opportunity for greatness. TIFF MAN.

[Riccardo]

This is just the beginning of the end of a Corrupt Government.
It will be donne peacefully.
Progressive English and French Speaking Cameroonians are working hard to change our Country.
A genuine democracy will transform Cameroon into a modern State in Africa.

Riccardo
CAADIM

[Roland Ngong]

Our collective memory sometimes is so shallow.
Biya today is like the local sheriff hunting down those accused of malfeasance. The people applaud. If he continues, he may leave a legacy worth enshrining in the history of our country.
In the meantime, we collectively forget or chose to overlook the fact that the SCB/Messi Messi affair still remains in the realm of the unexplained.The blood is now dry - except for those who have been injured in the process and whose wounds are yet to heal. I mean those who have lost their savings with the SCB; businesses which have had to close down; kids who have had their schooling abruptly stopped because SCB and by extension whomsoever stole the money (because thievery it was )made it impossible for them to savour the joys of a good education etc...The time of judgement will come - as it surely will - someday!