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WikiLeaks: How Francophone Africa gets indebted through theft and manipulation

As we continue to deplore the continuous manipulation of Francophone Africa  by successive colonial administrators  and their master France, we also urged on the need for us to come together and take our own destiny into our hands. Among others, we have to cancel the so called “debts we owe” these vampires, as well as nationalise all their assets and related unscrupulously-privatised corporations in Cameroon and the rest of the continent. We express the urgent need to cut all monetary (FCFA) ties with France and implore on our imminent future leaders to work with them as partners if we must continue collaborating. Anything short of  this, we must also add and accentuate deals with potential partners like  Brazil, Turkey, Argentina, Venezuela, Iran, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. Below is a WikiLeaks  US Embassy-Cameroon confidential cable released on December 28, 201o and dated July 07, 2009. It reveals how the vampires ruling the Central African sub Region (CEMAC)  through the regional bank BEAC, connived with France to steal billions of our funds to fund French politics. Soon the same guys ruling us will go after loans from this same France and her allies with fabulous sums as interest rates. Read on

ID: 09YAOUNDE608
Dokument dato: 2009-07-07 12:12:00
Release dato: 2010-12-28 21:09:00
Kilde: Embassy Yaounde
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Hovedtekst:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 000608

 

SIPDIS

 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2019

TAGS:     

SUBJECT: (C) CENTRAL BANK SOURCE: "GABONESE STOLE $40

MILLION, FUNNELED SOME TO FRENCH POLITICS"

 

REF: YAOUNDE 147

 

Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 b and d.

 

1. (C) Summary. Senior Gabonese officials in the Bank of

Central African States (BEAC) colluded to embezzle more

than 18.3 billion CFA (about $36 million) from the pooled

reserves of the six states of the Central African Economic

and Monetary Community (CEMAC) over the past five years,

according to a senior Embassy contact at the bank. In a

June 12 meeting with Poloff, the source, a senior

third-country national, said BEAC discovered the crime

during internal audits conducted in the wake of revelations

that Gabonese national and BEAC Governor Philip Andzembe

had covertly placed 500 million Euros in high-risk

investmentQwith French bank Societe Generale (reftel).

According to the Embassy source, senior Gabonese political

leadership, including the late President Omar Bongo and his

son, Defense Minister and presidential hopeful, Ali Bongo

benefitted from the embezzlement. The source said Gabonese

officials used the proceeds for their own enrichment and,

at Bongo"s direction, funneled funds to French political

parties, including in support of French President

Nicholas Sarkozy. End summary.

 

Audit Reveals Deeper Issues

---------------------------

 

2. (C) The BEAC official asked Poloff to meet on June 12

to discuss "a sensitive issue that I want the U.S. to hear

about from me, before it appears in the media." Recalling

the political tensions created by the revelation that BEAC

Governor and Gabonese national Philip Andzembe had, in

violation of BEAC regulations and unbeknownst to the BEAC

board, placed 500 million euro of BEAC deposits in a

high-risk investment with French bank Societe Generale

(Reftel), the BEAC official said the consequent review of

BEAC"s accounts had revealed even broader and more brazen

malfeasance linked to a hierarchy of Gabonese officials

throughout BEAC. (Note: Under the agreement that created

BEAC in 1972 it was decided that, in light of their relative

economic predominance in the region, Cameroon would host

BEAC"s headquarters while Gabon would maintain exclusive

power to appoint the BEAC Governor. For more information

on how the politics of oil of affected the region and BEAC

see reftel. End note.)

 

The Easy Way to Rob a Bank

--------------------------

 

3. (C) The BEAC official explained that Gabonese

President Bongo"s control of BEAC was more extensive than

the Governor"s office; the Director of Accounting, the

Deputy Director of Accounting, the officials overseeing

international wire transfers, and the accountant in BEAC"s

Paris branch have all been Gabonese nationals appointed by

Bongo. Working in concert, these officials were able to

subvert BEAC"s safeguards. The Paris accountant was, until

recently, Gabonese national Armand Brice Nzamba, who is a

close personal friend of Ali Bongo, according to Post"s

contact at BEAC. The BEAC official said BEAC had contacted

the Paris "financial police" who were investigating Nzamba

until he fled France earlier this year. Gabonese national

Maurice Moutsinga served as the Director of Accounting in

BEAC Headquarters for 20 years until his retirement in

2007.

 

4. (C) The embezzlement moved through three main

Channels, according to the official:

 

--in checks made out in the names of the BEAC officials

themselves; BEAC"s investigations have already tracked 18.3

billion CFA ($36.6 million) that were embezzled in checks

made out in the name of Gabonese officials. As a result,

Nzamba accumulated personal wealth of more than of more 1

billion CFA ($2 million) on an annual salary of about

$36,000;

 

--in checks made payable to shell companies; the main

recipients were Papieterie Classique and Tour 55 in France

and Chaiab in Morocco, and;

 

--in checks made out to Gabonese politicians, including the

wife of Leon Mebiane, who was Gabon"s Prime Minister from

1975-1990.

 

Did French Politicians Benefit?

-------------------------------

YAOUNDE 00000608 002 OF 002

5. (C) Asked what the officials did with the stolen

funds, the BEAC official responded, "sometimes they kept it

for themselves, sometimes they funneled it to French

political parties." Asked who received the funds, the

official responded, "both sides, but mostly the right;

especially Chirac and including Sarkozy." The BEAC

official said "Bongo was France"s favorite President in

Africa," and "this is classic France Afrique." He said

technocrats from the French Treasury were relatively

progressive in encouraging the francophone governments to

be more autonomous, but that the Banque de France

continued to exert an outsized influence.

 

CEMAC Presidency"s React

------------------------

 

6. (C) The BEAC official said the CEMAC Heads of State

were understandably upset to learn about the deeper

governance problems at BEAC. In a January 2009 meeting to

discuss Anzembe"s deal with Societe Generale, Biya had called

for Andzembe"s immediate dismissal. According to the

official, Biya pounded the table during a recent meeting

with his CEMAC counterparts and asked, in reference to his

own anti-corruption campaign, "Don"t you read the press?

We throw people like this in jail in my country!"

Equato-Guinean President Obiang, long-frustrated that his

deposits at BEAC exceeded his influence in the institution,

was more "patient," calling for audits because, according

to the BEAC official, "he knew what the audits would find

[regarding Andzembe"s malfeasance] and that the resulting

pressure to institute a Presidency that rotates among the

member states would be inevitable."

 

Audit of SG Placement Continues

-------------------------------

 

7. (C) The Audit Committee includes representatives from

the six CEMAC economies plus a representative from the

French Treasury. The Heads of States agreed to conduct two

audits, a general review of internal accounts and a

specific investigation into Andzembe"s unauthorized

placement of funds at Societe Generale. According to the BEAC

official, the investigators have yet to understand fully the

details of the SG account. "Even SG tells us that they are

unable to determine the structure of the investment that

Anzembe made!" he marveled. The official theorized that SG

had used the BEAC funds to help "plug the hole" created by

the Kerviel rogue trader scandal, but that the financial

crisis had overwhelmed SG and swallowed BEAC"s funds.

 

Jail for Some;

End of Gabon"s Monopoly

----------------------

 

8. (C) The BEAC official said his own government and

others would seek jail time for some of the officials, but

that there would be pressure to deal delicately with the

new Gabonese Government. Ali Bongo, he said, is close

personal friends with BEAC Governor Anzembe.

Institutionally, he predicted, these scandals will mean the

end of Gabon"s monopoly on the Governorship, which will now

rotate among the member states, and will lead to revisions to

internal

controls.

 

Comment: A Governance Lesson Learned

------------------------------------

 

9. (C) This tale of grand-scale corruption is

unfortunate, especially coming as it does during an

economic crisis that has depleted the region"s resources,

but the strong reaction from Biya and Obiang suggests

Gabon"s foul play might result in better management--more

transparency and autonomy--of BEAC"s resources. Our hope

is that CEMAC leaders internalize the lesson that secretive

management of public resources is a recipe for waste and

abuse and apply it to BEAC and their domestic

institutions. Post is unable to assess the veracity of the

allegation that French politicians benefitted from BEAC"s

loss, but it is the type of claim--that France encourages

and preys upon corrupt leaders in the region--that will

gain currency in popular opinion if, as the BEAC official

predicted, the story leaks to the press. End comment.

 

GARVEY 
(Elisabeth Janet Garvey- Former US Ambassador to Cameroon)

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