Cameroon Former PM Indicted for Corruption

{{Former Cameroon Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni has been indicted on two counts of embezzling millions from the state while he held public office with the support of other state officials.}}

Inoni, who has been on pre-trial detention since his arrest on April 16 last year, was informed of the charges against him when he was summoned by the newly created Special Criminal Court on Thursday.

He is accused of having embezzled $582,557 in 2003 while he served as prime minister and sat on the boards of some state-run companies and parastatals.

The sum represented dues that had to be paid into the coffers of the Cameroon subsidiary of London-based firm Airport Portfolio Management (APM).

APM which is represented in Cameroon by Asset Portfolio Management (APM) supervised the auditing of the leasing of airplanes by defunct national carrier Cameroon Airlines (CAMAIR).

The court says Inoni, who during the same period chaired the board of APM’s local subsidiary, failed to respect the country’s laws on the award of the auditing contracts.

The former prime minister’s younger brother is said to have been holding a ten per cent stake in the Cameroon branch of APM.

This, according to prosecutors, indicates that APM was a shadow company used to loot the state’s reserves.

Inoni is also accused of swindling $2,841,521 from the state in a separate charge.

The amount represents a surplus on $8,128,540 disbursed by state-run oil company SNH (National Hydrocarbons Corporation) to CAMAIR as payment of arrears for airplanes leased from Ansett Worldwide, an American company.

The transaction is said to have been made via Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon where the former premier was board chairman.

Also accused are Jean Marie Atangana Mebara and Otélé Essomba.

Mr Mebara was secretary-general at the presidency and board chairman of SNH at the time while Mr Essomba was the deputy general manager of APM in Cameroon where he had a 30 per cent share.

The court however dropped three other charges against the former prime minister. One of them had linked him to the botched purchase of a presidential plane christened the “Albatross Affair”.

{agencies}