Drawing The Line Between Albatross And BBJ Rackets

By Joe Dinga Pefok

There seems to be a line between those being accused in the racket which led to the purchase of a 'coffin' in the name of a presidential aircraft and those accused in an earlier failed operation to buy a new Boeing Business Jet, BBJ II.

The confusion in the media reports seemed to have been partly due to the fact that the Economic and Financial Crimes Investigation Service at the Judicial Police headquarters in Yaounde carried out the interrogation of the accused persons in the double racket.

As we reported, corroborated by an investigative report which the French language daily, Le Messager (No. 2618) coincidentally published on May 26, it is erroneous to link former General Manager of the Cameroon Airlines, Yves Michel Fotso, to the Albatross Scandal which was apparently led by Jean Marie Atangana Mebara.

Rather, Fotso played a major role in what Le Messager has dubbed GIA Affair, but which seems more appropriate to be dubbed as the BBJ II Affair. This project which was headed by the then Secretary General at the Presidency, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, in 2001 saw the disbursement of US $ 31 million by the National Hydro Carbons Corporation, SNH, whose General Manager is Adolphe Moudiki.

The money was officially destined as advance payment to the Boeing company in the US, to begin the manufacturing the BBJ II. As we also reported, a firm specialized in aircraft business known as GIA International acted as agent between CAMAIR General Manager and the Boeing company.

The Cameroon presidency had decided to carry out the project under the canopy of CAMAIR, in a bid to avoid getting into trouble with the Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund), which had put in place a structural adjustment programme for Cameroon.

Meanwhile, a Cameroonian expert in the aircraft business sector, Jean Marie Assene Nkou (former CPDM MP), linked up Fotso with GIA, for which he pocketed FCFA 500 million as commission. What was not clear was how Nkou got involved in the affair. However, Le Messager reported in its investigative report that a one-time big shot at CAMAIR, whose only name we got as Gwet, brought Nkou into contact with Fotso. The paper also discloses that Nkou, who was interrogated by the Judicial Police in Yaounde on May 23, admitted that he received FCFA 500 million as commission in the deal.

Mebara Torpedoes BBJ Project

The purchase of a new presidential plane from Boeing flopped when Mebera in 2002 replaced Marafa as Secretary General at the Presidency. Mebera reportedly played his cards well and succeeded in getting President Biya to buy a new plane instead of a second-hand one. Mebara seemed to want a new financial deal rather than go ahead with what his predecessor had started. In fact, Fotso is quoted as declaring in a statement to the Judicial Police that Mebera torpedoed the project to buy the BBJ II.

According to Fotso, Mebera is culpable for the ugly situation in which he finds himself today.
Whatever the case, the scandal lies more in the fact that not a single dollar, out of the US $ 31 million that was disbursed by SNH returned to the state coffers. The Boeing company was known to have officially cut part of the money as penalty for the breach of contract. So, where is that money?

The situation becomes quite complicated for Fotso because GIA no longer exists. Le Messager corroborated this fact in its report, saying that GIA authorities presented a declaration for the liquidation of the firm to a US court. Observers say the situation is more complicated for Fotso because he was the one who brought Nkou and thus GIA into the deal.

This seems to make the matter lighter for Marafa. For one thing, if it was he or somebody like Moudiki or the then Minister of Economy and Finance, Michel Meva'a Mebetou, who brought Nkou into the affair, Fotso thus, would have likely shifted culpability for the disappearance of GIA to the person.

Planned Visit To Boeing

The Le Messager's investigative report said in the absence of GIA, investigators into the BBJ II affair are seriously thinking of making a trip to the Boeing headquarters in the US. There, they will likely want to among other things, find out what was the real cost of the BBJ II, how much money GIA advanced to the aircraft company, how much money Boeing deducted as penalty following the ruling by the arbitration committee and how much was refunded to GIA.

It is worth noting that Marafa had reportedly put the official cost of the plane at FCFA 70 billion. The US $ 31 million disbursed by SNH was by the 2001 exchange rate said to be close to FCFA 20 billion.

It is also worth recalling that Fotso was sacked as CAMAIR General Manager in November 2003. Thus, by the time the Mebera gang bought the Albatross in 2004, Fotso was no longer at CAMAIR. GIA was also not involved.

Comments

[chopbrokehouse]

ATTENTION,ATTENTION, ATTENTION. Here They Are Again:
PLEASE, i don't know where to attach my observation apropos reducing Limbe, the division head quarter of Fako to a satellite towm in Douala.
AAHH, they have come again as usuall in different shades. As mentioned in mutation newspaper, Dr Ntone, the government delegate to the Douala urban council indicated Limbe as an agricultural town whose produce will be transported for exportation via Douala river port as has hitherto been the case.I am convinced the elites of Fako and the South West Chiefs were not even consulted before this Sham colonization project.
After ruminating on the implications of reducing Limbe as part of Douala, it is crystal clear that in no-distance future all the taxes due Limbe from the prospective avalanche of companies will be paid to the Douala council as a starting point. Thereafter, we will be told that for harmonization limbe is promoted to littoral province.
"You can fool some people sometimes but not all people all the times". Yabassi elites are already screaming for not being selected as part of the project despite its located in littoral province.
However, if they are still too interested in south west province, then misselele or our once vibrant Tiko town are availabe to be developed under the Douala ?satellite towns project.
We VEHEMENTLY say NO sacrificing LIMBE whose DEEP SEAPORT when developped will enhance business activities of the province.

SWELA,SW chiefs, and all Anglopnes, please put your hands together and defend this noble course.
From Victoria to Limbe and now douala satellite town. LANGA OIL AND MONEY. E NO GO WORK.

[chopbrokehouse]

ATTENTION,ATTENTION, ATTENTION. Here They Are Again:
PLEASE, i don't know where to attach my observation apropos reducing Limbe, the division head quarter of Fako to a satellite towm in Douala.
AAHH, they have come again as usuall in different shades. As mentioned in mutation newspaper, Dr Ntone, the government delegate to the Douala urban council indicated Limbe as an agricultural town whose produce will be transported for exportation via Douala river port as has hitherto been the case.I am convinced the elites of Fako and the South West Chiefs were not even consulted before this Sham colonization project.
After ruminating on the implications of reducing Limbe as part of Douala, it is crystal clear that in no-distance future all the taxes due Limbe from the prospective avalanche of companies will be paid to the Douala council as a starting point. Thereafter, we will be told that for harmonization limbe is promoted to littoral province.
"You can fool some people sometimes but not all people all the times". Yabassi elites are already screaming for not being selected as part of the project despite its located in littoral province.
However, if they are still too interested in south west province, then misselele or our once vibrant Tiko town are availabe to be developed under the Douala ?satellite towns project.
We VEHEMENTLY say NO sacrificing LIMBE whose DEEP SEAPORT when developped will enhance business activities of the province.

SWELA,SW chiefs, and all Anglopnes, please put your hands together and defend this noble course.
From Victoria to Limbe and now douala satellite town. LANGA OIL AND MONEY. E NO GO WORK.

[Tekum Mbeng]

If Cameroonian Patriots in North America learnt that Camair was buying a BBJ 2 business jet, the intent would have been very clear despite the attempt to hide the deal. They would have brought public pressure to bear on Boeing Aircraft Corporation and exposed the duplicity of a tinpot dictator in Yaounde.

A country then fighting to qualify as the poorest could not be buying a expensive business jet. What for?

Make no mistake.