By Tansa Musa
"We hope this case serves as a deterrent to other people in whose hands state property has been entrusted to manage in the general interest, but who very often mistake them for their personal property." Presiding Judge Nnomo Zanga.
YAOUNDE, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A court in Cameroon jailed nine former state employees for between 15 and 35 years on Thursday for embezzlement in a second high-profile case against corrupt members of veteran President Paul Biya's ruling party.
A large group of senior state officials were arrested in February 2006 in a crackdown on graft that Biya ordered under pressure from international donors concerned by widespread corruption in the central African country.
A magistrates court in the capital Yaounde jailed Gilles-Roger Belinga, former general manager of the state-owned Societe Immobiliere du Cameroun (SIC) who is a senior member of Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) for fraud and embezzling 3.7 billion CFA francs ($8 million).
Presiding Judge Nnomo Zanga said: "We hope this case serves as a deterrent to other people in whose hands state property has been entrusted to manage in the general interest, but who very often mistake them for their personal property."
Ahmadou Ousmanou, SIC's fugitive former administration and finance director, was sentenced in absentia to 35 years in jail.
Two other former company officials were jailed for 25 years and five more received terms of 15 years for complicity in embezzlement of public funds, corruption and fraud.
The court also ordered the nine to pay the company collective damages of 4 billion CFA francs, and ordered the confiscation of all their property.
Defence lawyers said they would appeal the sentences, which they regarded as too heavy for first offences. Prosecutors said they would appeal too, saying the sentences were much lighter than the 70-year terms they had requested.
In June, Emmanuel Gerard Ondo Ndong, the former general manager of local council support fund FEICOM and a member of the CPDM's highest body, the political bureau, was convicted of embezzlement, corruption and fraud and jailed for 50 years.
Cameroon, which Biya has ruled for a quarter of a century, was ranked the most corrupt country in the world in 1998 and 1999 by Berlin-based graft watchdog Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
Since then Cameroon has crept off the bottom, ranking 138 of 179 nations in the latest table published on Wednesday, but a joint mission from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said last week there was more work to do in tackling corruption.
Cameroon's economy dominates the six-nation Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), but in spite of oil reserves, a thriving regional port and cash crop agriculture, 42 percent of its 17 million people survive below the poverty line.
35 or 1000 years in prison will never alliviate the plight of camerooonians, languishing under this monster, murderer, bandit, wife killer, blood drinker in the name of Biya.
SDF, UPC, SCNC, SCYL, anglophones, francophones, fuabes, hausas, bamelikes, Bakweris,Bassas, Balis, Doualas etc., we all have one single goal- get rid of this gang of bandits, and murderers, called government in yaounde, and possible gullitine them all, to save our motherland, and preserve this precious heritage of ours.
All these court jugdments and sentences, are all masquarades. We all know the truth, being that our motherland has been taken over by devils, and killers, bent to subject us, our children, and childrens childrens to a perpertual state of desperation.
Come on right thinking Cameroonian, with strategies, on how we can liberate our dear heritage. Our country is gradually sliding into complete chaos. History will blame us if we just keep on watching.
It can all start up in the diapora with simultaneous planned demonstration around the world, where cameroonians are residing. Cameroonians are all fed up and want not only Biya to go away, but a complete revolution of the existing system.
Away with Biya, down with the appointed governors, SDOs DOs, Government delegates, appointed chiefs, etc. These are all symbols of evil. They represent cancer in our society, and are really spreading at an alarming rate. Once you are diagnosed with cancer, there are only two solutions, stop its spread or it takes over your entire body and kill you.
Come on with ideas- Cameroonians
Posted by: Cameroon | September 28, 2007 at 06:31 AM
The Cameroon judiciary must be commended for this marvelous verdict.It is unbelievable that some of our elites whom we feel will assist in our nation building have rather become forces of destruction to our nation.Why should an individual embezzle this kind of amount of money when millions of Cameroonians can't even afford for their daily needs.What an economic catastrophic.We talk of the case of Kumba Post office,the GM of Douala port,the Gm of Feicom and now Sic.We encourages our judiciary to pursue them without any fear or favour.
God bless my belove country.
From Solomon Akamembulle (Cape Town)
Posted by: AKAMEMBULLE | September 28, 2007 at 08:12 AM
Corruption in Cameroon is a multi-headed hydra. Emmanuel Gerard Ondo Ndong, Gilles-Roger Belinga, etc. are not the only hydras in Biya's rot. How these mal-informed fellows rose to prominent national positions is legitimate substance for research and publications.
Still lurking in the system are intellectually corrupt civil servants - the likes of Jacques Fame Ndongo - a Biya minister of higher education who continues to block private initiatives to expand higher education in the country and is unable to reform the weak francophone educational system.
This is the same minister Ndongo who invoked an ethno-fascist theorem of "regional balance" in 2006 to justify replacing arbitrarily the names of intelligent young Cameroonians who had passed a tough competitive entrance exam to attend UB medical school, with those of the kids and relatives of CPDM partisans.
Fame Ndongo's intellectual dishonesty sent the wrong message to a generation of youth and must not be forgotten.
KB
Posted by: Kumbaboy | September 28, 2007 at 09:44 PM
This is good and I wonder for how long this will continue for there are still many as the list is so long. They have been jailed but the next question comes up: Where is the money they stole? How do we get back the money. How do we restore order in the public service? They should also look at the corrupt custom officials who tax merchands with arbitrary sums of money and we never get the proper accounting. We really have much to do. We really need a task force to clean out corruption in this beloved country and not committees that are made for the cameras to deceive the world bodies. Ask me how to do it and I will tell you how. We also need to clean up every sector beginning from Justice to the legislature to the executive. Our legislators are the worst because they do not even seem to know what they are elected to do. Our governors are house keepers who know nothing about governance. They are more interested in getting the moneys from these jailed theives and funnelling it to their private family accounts. Cameroon is realy suffering from institutional decay. We really need a group of Dynamice thinkers to set the stage for a better tomorrow. Who will lead? The opposition has no true mission except vengeance and ethnic revenge and they are all divided on who to lead. Some say they are tired of cameroon being ruled for thirty years by one person but they also forget that within the opposition itself people are also tired of One leader leader them for over 15 years with no good result except deceiving our old mothers to abandon their farms to go join Takembeng. the only leader that we had Albert W mukong was killed. Where are we going to? Why ca't Cardinal Tumi resign from the priesthood and salvage Cameroon from getting to that point that we will have to do a lot of Damage control like in Darfur today.
Posted by: Venatius Che | October 09, 2007 at 08:59 AM
A quick warning: 'What prompts a man to bomb his own country?' One man, one bomb, shall change the nation. Beast of humanity fears no dead. freedon can be achived through various means especially today with all means at our disposal. If Bush can not enforce that Biya be hanged like Sadam, then 911 is emminent in Cameroon.Let the chicken hearted popets in the name of guards prepare to dies like rats and flies in their steadfast duty to protect vampire Biya.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2007 at 07:21 PM
Today we talk about corruption in Cameroon.Don't forget this.In Cameroon:(la chèvre broute là ou elle est attachée)start with paul biya himself "attaché"par les colons,ses maitres.Car il a toujours èté le meilleur élève.Feel me.
Posted by: Man Mout | March 20, 2008 at 06:52 AM
The cases of people like Roger Belinga have been forgotten and with people like and nothing has been said about them.What of Titus Edzoa?What has become of the charges levied against them?
Posted by: Nuh Peter | April 03, 2008 at 01:46 PM
The cases of people like Roger Belinga have been forgotten and with people like and nothing has been said about them.What of Titus Edzoa?What has become of the charges levied against them?
Posted by: Nuh Peter | April 03, 2008 at 01:49 PM
Cavaye Yeguie Djibril,one of the brains behind the modification of the const.is also on Ahmadou Ali's list to go by the postnewsline.Let's see whether he will be arrested
Posted by: Kongossa man | April 05, 2008 at 12:48 PM
It is a pity that Cameroon is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa. However, the efforts made to eradicate corruption is a positive step taken in the right direction. One question that one needs to ask is, how effectively and sincerely can a government whose leadership encourages missmanagement hold people accountable for missmanaging state funds.
The budget for the presidency is 105 million and the military, more than 200 million according to the government of Cameroon is more important than agriculture, 106 million that employs about 70% of the population.
Posted by: davisco | October 04, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Hi, do you know about him?
Posted by: willy mardhika | June 06, 2017 at 05:45 AM
Hi how do I get hold of the authorities in Cameroon. Non corrupt one. I have very good information on monies stolen from Cameroon and sent to South Africa.
I have proof of it .
I want a diplomat with from government with the permission of the government to disclose the information.
Posted by: Anwar Essop | September 29, 2022 at 09:00 AM