CAMEROON CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS: RECENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L YAOUNDE 001234

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INL/C AND AF/C
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
PRETORIA FOR DHS/ICE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2017
TAGS: KCOR PREL PGOV CM
SUBJECT: CAMEROON CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS: RECENT
MEETINGS WITH GRC AND CANADIANS

REF: A. YAOUNDE 1160 NOTAL

B. YAOUNDE 1068 NOTAL

C. YAOUNDE 752 NOTAL

Classified By: Poloff Tad Brown for reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary and action request. The Ambassador's
recent meetings with Cameroon Vice PM/Minister of Justice
Amadou Ali and Canadian High Commissioner Jean Pierre LaVoie
provided new information relevant to USG participation in
Government of Cameroon (GRC) anti-corruption investigations
(reftels). Ambassador Garvey is in Washington October 13-19
for the AF COM conference. While there, she will seek to
meet with INL/C and other offices to obtain lessons learned
and best practices from USG involvement in similar
investigations in Africa and to determine what assets the USG
may bring to bear to advance this effort in Cameroon. Post
requests INL/C assistance to structure these conversations.
End summary and action request.

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Ambassador's 9/20 Meeting With Ali
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2. (C) During the Ambassador's September 20 courtesy call
(ref a),Ali raised almost immediately the subject of USG
cooperation with the GRC's efforts to gather information
relating to corrupt GRC officials (refs b and c). Ali
asserted that the USG "knows all" about corrupt officials and
pushed the Ambassador to share this information. When the
Ambassador countered that, in fact, the process is more
complicated than Ali suggested, Ali replied "the ball is in
your court." Ali committed that the GRC would use any funds
recovered in a transparent manner. Ali said a successful
effort would act as a "vaccine" to prevent further
corruption, and that the culture of "impunity" would
disappear. Ali said that those who have stolen are "at
peace" in thinking they do not have to fear prosecution.


3. (C) The Ambassador saluted the anti-corruption
undercurrent in the September 7 cabinet shuffle, but
emphasized that sustained commitment would be needed to make
meaningful progress. Ali concurred, saying that President
Biya had called him on the eve of the shuffle, saying he was
prepared to go further in dismissing corrupt officials once
he had more evidence (which, Ali implied, meant information
from the U.S. and other foreign partners). Ali told
Ambassador the shuffle removed "four of the most infamous"
corrupt officials:

--former Minister of Economy and Finance Polycarpe Abah Abah
--former Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marie Atangana
Mebara
--former Minister of Public Health Urbain Awono Olanguena
--former Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Communication
Gervais Mendo Ze


4. (C) Ali said that despite public appearances, Mebara was
"improper" and, while Secretary General at the Presidency,
had been involved in the so-called "Albatross affair" in
which millions were spent from the GRC treasury for the
purchase of a Boeing presidential airplane. (Note: Biya
stopped using the plane soon after receiving it when a
technical problem raised concerns it would be used to
assassinate him. End note.) Ali said that Olanguena had
profited from his positions as Secretary General at the
Ministry of Economy and Finance and as the Minister of Health.


5. (C) When asked about the decision to choose
French-Cameroonian national Francis Dooh Collins and American
Robert Horwath, both based in Geneva, as the GRC's agents for
this investigation, Ali said that he had personally chosen
Dooh Collins because he came with a good reputation from a
well-known Cameroonian family. Ali said that his confidence
in Dooh Collins grew when he learned (presumably from Dooh
Collins himself) that the French Government was seeking to
undermine Dooh Collins' efforts. Ali quickly hedged,
however, that he would drop Dooh Collins if we or others had
reason to be concerned about him. Post will report further
on Collins' involvement and on the GRC's draft Mutual Legal
Assistance (MLA) request septel.

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Canadians
--------------


6. (C) On September 21, Canadian High Commissioner Jean
Pierre LaVoie and Canadian Poloff told Ambassador that the
Canadian Government had not yet taken action on Dooh Collins'
earlier approach for their assistance because of internal
administrative constraints. The High Commission was
preparing to write to Ottawa to request assistance with the
investigation and first wanted to know what steps the USG had
taken and what view the USG took of Dooh Collins. We
explained that Dooh Collins had met with USG officials in
CONUS, but that the USG had not yet provided Dooh Collins
with any hard information, and that Dooh Collins had
generally failed to impress us in terms of his
professionalism or ability to contribute to the
investigation. The Canadians expressed misgivings about Dooh
Collins' involvement, noted that Dooh Collins had mentioned
aspirations to be nominated as a GRC official, and worried
about Dooh Collins' potentially hidden private agenda.
Ambassador and Canadian High Commissioner agreed that the
three diplomatic missions involved so far (US, Canada, UK)
should meet to coordinate our response and should consider
how best to approach other missions, especially the French.

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Comment: Moving forward
--------------


7. (C) Ali's assertion that Biya is prepared to act but
lacks the necessary evidence strikes us as unconvincing. The
Presidency has substanitial information about financial
transactions in Cameroon. Auditors within the offices of
State Control (the GRC's equivalent of the Inspector General)
have recounted instances where their reports, filled with
incriminating evidence, have been passed to the Presidency
with no response until, in some instances, the cases are
brought forward at moments opportune for the GRC's
anti-corruption credentials. Rather, we perceive the GRC's
priority in this effort to be the recovery of pilfered state
funds, and the positive publicity that this would engender.
Ali's "vaccine" comment is also somewhat misleading. Corrupt
officials--including sitting ministers--have been dismissed
and thrown in jail before, with no apparent effect on the
culture of corruption.


8. (C) Nevertheless, we believe that Ali is sincere in his
desire to advance anti-corruption efforts in Cameroon, and we
take as credible his assertion that this is a "window of
opportunity" that will not last indefinitely. We believe
that multiple USG interests are served by our continued and
increased participation in this effort: first, there is the
domestic imperative to investigate and follow-up on any
crimes committed in the US or using USG institutions; second,
there is the deterrent effect to prevent people from using US
territory and banks in the future; third, there is the
foreign policy impact -- whether or not we are able to locate
looted funds on US soil, it behooves us to be able to say
that we have fully participated in the GRC's anti-corruption
efforts and to work with the GRC to improve its own capacity
and understanding for anti-corruption, anti-money laundering
operations. End comment.
NELSON