VISAS DONKEY: CELESTIN NDONGA CORRUPTION 212(F)

C O N F I D E N T I A L YAOUNDE 000855

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO FOR AF/C, CA/VO/L/C AND INL/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2018
TAGS: KCOR KCVM EMIN CVIS CM
SUBJECT: VISAS DONKEY: CELESTIN NDONGA CORRUPTION 212(F)
SAO REQUEST

REF: A. 07 YAOUNDE 1428

B. 09/05/08 BROWN EMAIL TO INL/C BECKER

C. KOHN AND LEVENTHAL

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


1. (U) This cable contains an action request for the
Department. See paragraph 14.


2. (C) Summary. Celestin Ndonga is a public servant whose
influence--exclusively negative--far exceeds his official
positions and whose corrupt acts have damaged an American
company and dealt setbacks to USG interests in Cameroon's
economic development. As a Technical Advisor in Cameroon's
Ministry of Mines, Ndonga solicited bribes from an American
company and, when refused, sought to torpedo the project in
favor of competing interests to whom Ndonga is financially
attached. In his current role as the General Manager of
Cameroon's Electricity Development Corporation (EDC),Ndonga
continues to interfere in the development of mining projects
outside of his official competence. Without the public
profile of a Cabinet official, Ndonga thrives in the murky
labyrinth of Cameroon's economic machinery, using official
cover to divert public contracts toward favored companies and
to pressure investors into paying bribes disguised in
official-sounding language. End summary.

=====================
Ndonga's Corrupt Acts
=====================


3. (C) Although we have received reports of Ndonga's
malfeasance across a wide range of activities and from a
broad spectrum of sources, Post has strong evidence that
Ndonga has:

--solicited a bribe from an American mining project in
Cameroon;

--sought to use his official capacity for personal gain.

========================
Solicitation of Bribes
========================


4. (C) In the midst of negotiations with the Government of
Cameroon (GRC) regarding the terms of a mining convention,
officials from Hydromine, an American-led mining project (ref
a),confided to Emboffs that they believed Ndonga was seeking
to derail their project in favor of competing interests.
Ndonga was at the time Technical Advisor to the Minister of
Mines. In late 2007, an official from Hydromine provided
Poloff with a copy of a letter (copy sent ref b) purporting
to show that Ndonga had solicited a bribe from Hydromine in
order to "facilitate" the negotiation of Hydromine's
convention. The letter, which appears on the letterhead of
the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development
(MINIMDT),is signed by Ndonga. The letter indicates that
Hydromine should pay 50,000,000 CFA (roughly $100,000) to pay
for "expert assistant to elaborate the convention."


5. (C) Hydromine officials told Emboffs that they perceived
the letter as a poorly disguised bribe attempt and refused to
pay. Why, they wondered, should Hydromine be asked to pay in
order for GRC officials to simply discharge their
responsibilities? Hydromine's Cameroonian representative
told Poloff in late August that he had sought the advice of
Jean Paul Nkounchou Somo, Charge de Mission at the
Presidency, who told him that Hydromine should "pay Ndonga"
if Hydromine wanted to obtain the convention. The Hydromine
official said he understood this to indicate that Ndonga had
promised to share the proceeds of the bribe with other senior
officials.


6. (C) Poloff met with Dr. Calistus Fuh Gentry, the
Secretary of State (a cabinet-level position) at MINIMDT on
September 5 to understand whether Ndonga's request was
consisten with GRC regulations. (Note: Fuh is well known to
the Embassy as a rare instance of a clean and effective GRC
minister. Fuh has received rave reviews from American,
British and Australian mining experts with whom we have
spoken. End note.) Fuh reviewed the letter with MINIMDT's
Inspector General and the two presented their conclusions to
Poloff, confiding that they had already been aware of
Ndonga's activities. According to Fuh, Ndonga's letter was
"a complete scam" that had no basis in Cameroon's laws or
regulations.


7. (C) The Inspector General told Poloff that the services
for which Ndonga purported to charge Hydromine were supposed
to be provided as part of the MINIMDT's normal duties. In

fact, he continued, he himself had chaired the meeting that
carried out the work that Ndonga was claiming to conduct.
The committee met over many days and compiled a detailed
analysis of Hydromine's proposal. The committee--which
included more than 20 experts from across the GRC--conducted
its work at no charge to Hydromine. Fuh closed the
conversation by remarking: "Corruption in Africa has become
more sophisticated. Now corrupt officials dress up their
bribes with official-sounding reasons on official-looking
documents."


8. (C) Officials from Sundance Resources, an Australian iron
ore project, told Poloff that Ndonga had made a similar
request for a "facilitation" payment from them. Feeling
uncomfortable with the request (which they perceived as
inappropriate),Sundance officials initially pushed back, but
finally agreed to a payment of about $600,000 to a "task
force" established by the Prime Minister's office that, they
say, was structured in such a way so as to comply with
Australian and American corruption regulations. Nonetheless,
one Sundance official expressed discomfort with the deal,
arguing that, although it was technically legal, he had no
doubt that the funds are being used to line the pockets of
Ndonga, members of the "task force" and GRC and their
friends, hired as consultants.

=========================================
Using Official Capacity for Personal Gain
=========================================


9. (C) Post has received a series of allegations that
Ndonga has used his official position--first at MINIMDT and
now also at EDC--to steer business towards companies in which
he has a personal stake. A Hydromine official said Ndonga
pressured Hydromine to hire his "consultancy" companies
although it was evident that their alleged services provided
no value.


10. (C) Prior to assuming the title of Technical Advisor,
Ndonga was the Director of Industry at MINIMDT for fifteen
years. According to press reports and Hydromine officials,
Ndonga used his position to direct a 2002 MINIMDT contract
for the creation of an Investment Charter to the Premium
Consultancy Agency, a company that founded and run by Ndonga
himself.

============================
Damage to American Interests
============================


11. (C) Ndonga's corrupt activity has damaged American
commercial interests and had a negative impact on Cameroon's
economic development, a primary USG objective in Cameroon.
The AMCIT CEO of Hydromine told Poloff that Ndonga's corrupt
activity had dealt substantial setbacks to Hydromine's $6
billion project in terms of time and money. According to
Hydromine and Embassy sources in the Ministry of Mines,
Ndonga received and distributed bribes from Hydromine's
competitors meant to derail the Hydromine project. Hydromine
believes that Ndonga funded and arranged for a flurry of news
articles that sought to sully the Hydromine project shortly
after Hydromine refused to pay Ndonga.


12. (C) Ndonga's meddling has delayed several multi-billion
dollar projects. In addition to the Hydromine project,
Ndonga's position as the chair of the committee negotiating
Sundance's mining convention has complicated their efforts to
finalize a deal. Sundance officials have expressed
frustration at the negotiations and Ndonga's insistence on
"facilitation" payments. Ndonga's continued interference in
these mining projects is particularly baffling because he
already has a full-time job, as the General Manager of the
Electricity Development Corporation (EDC),a parastatal
created to manage the construction of the Lom Pangar Dam and
other hydro-electric projects. Officials from the American
company AES have complained to Poloff about Ndonga's role as
the head of EDC, saying that Ndonga has no experience in the
power sector. AES contacts claim Ndonga sought only to
protect the interests of ALUCAM, the Rio Tinto-owned aluminum
plant with whom he has been closely aligned since his tenure
at MINIMDT.


13. (C) Comment. Ndonga's letter soliciting a bribe from
Hydromine is a smoking gun, but his crimes are more extensive
than that simple act of corruption. Playing a central role
in three of Cameroon's most important development projects,
Ndonga has put his corrupt personal interests above his
official responsibilities. His ability to don the cloak of
officialdom--official-sounding documents and a series of
custom made positions--makes his corruption all the more
pernicious. American and other investors looking to help

Cameroon's economic development are easily fooled into
thinking their engagements with Ndonga are legitimate.
Ndonga and his cronies pocket the proceeds, foreign investors
become mired in confusing bureaucratic games and the
Cameroonian people are left holding the bill--in the form of
an underdeveloped and a stagnating economy. End comment.

========================
Impact of a 212f Finding
========================


14. (C) Post believes that a finding of ineligibility under
212f will have a positive impact on U.S. interests in
Cameroon. Such a decision will show that the USG is serious
about applying American law to corrupt Cameroonian officials.
If the decision becomes public, it will serve to weaken
Ndonga's position in the GRC and private sector, likely
leading to his total marginalization. Ndonga's rise has been
meteoric recently, largely due to his willingness to use his
official position to steward the business interests of Rio
Tinto-owned ALUCAM. This decision will slow and likely
derail his ascent.


15. (C) Action request. Post requests that Washington find
Celestin Ndonga ineligible to enter the U.S. under Section
212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act because his
corrupt acts have had a substantial negative impact on
significant US interests in Cameroon. End action request.

====================
Ndonga's Application
====================


16. (SBU) Ndonga applied on August 26 for a B1/B2 visa to
visit the US to conduct business on behalf of EDC. The
application was refused 221(g) for administrative processing.
At the time of application, Ndonga was accompanied by an
official from EDC, who was issued a visa. Ndonga has
previously held a B1/B2 visa issued on March 6, 2001, which
expired on September 5, 2001.
GARVEY