Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09YAOUNDE393
2009-04-29 12:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yaounde
Cable title:  

NOTHING SACRED: POPE'S BUDGET PILFERED BY

Tags:  KCOR PREL ECON PGOV CM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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R 291209Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9867
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0018
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 000393 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/C AND INL/C
TREASURY FOR FINCEN
JUSTICE FOR PATRICIA PETTY OIA
COMMERCE FOR ITA BURRESS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2019
TAGS: KCOR PREL ECON PGOV CM
SUBJECT: NOTHING SACRED: POPE'S BUDGET PILFERED BY
COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER

REF: YAOUNDE 286

YAOUNDE 00000393 001.2 OF 002


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 000393

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/C AND INL/C
TREASURY FOR FINCEN
JUSTICE FOR PATRICIA PETTY OIA
COMMERCE FOR ITA BURRESS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2019
TAGS: KCOR PREL ECON PGOV CM
SUBJECT: NOTHING SACRED: POPE'S BUDGET PILFERED BY
COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER

REF: YAOUNDE 286

YAOUNDE 00000393 001.2 OF 002


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


1. (SBU) Cameroonian legal authorities are investigating
allegations that Communication Minister Jean-Pierre Biyiti Bi
Essam embezzled 130,000,000 CFA (about $250,000) of the
700,000,000 CFA (about $1.4 million) his ministry received
for Pope Benedict XVI's March 17-20 visit to Yaounde
(reftel). Cameroonian media outlets--which have no love lost
for Biyiti Bi Essam's imperious management of the press--have
devoted extensive coverage to the allegations and we have
been told Minister of Justice Amadou Ali has ordered a
thorough audit of the 5.8 billion CFA (about $11.6 million)
that the Government of Cameroon (GRC) spent--much of it in
cash--for the Papal visit. We are encouraged to see the GRC
respond relatively swiftly to investigate the allegations,
but Biyiti Bi Essam's misdeeds are but a drop in Cameroon's
ocean of financial mismanagement and kleptocracy. End
summary.

Papal Visits Don't Come Cheaply
--------------


2. (SBU) Media reports, confirmed by sources with access to
Cameroon's budget figures, indicate the GRC spent 5.8 billion
CFA (about $11.6 million) for the March 17-20 visit of Pope
Benedict XVI (reftel). Biyiti Bi Essam, already resented by
the independent media for his disdain of press freedoms and
his imperious management of the media sector, received
700,000,000 CFA (about $1.4 million) to ensure the Pope's
visit received extensive coverage in the government-owned and
private press. In the days leading up to Benedict's arrival,
many in the independent press complained that they had not
received the subsidies they were promised. Biyiti Bi Essam
was heavily criticized when the GRC-owned CRTV television
broadcast of the Pope's arrival was unable to provide live
coverage of the Pope's progression from the airport through
the City of Yaounde.

Don't Mix Work and
Pleasure (Bank Accounts)

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


3. (C) Biyiti Bi Essam's most recent and most serious
troubles began when Cameroon's National Agency for Financial
Investigations (ANIF) detected suspicious transactions in his
personal account and alerted judicial authorities. Post
received a copy of a letter that Minister of Justice Amadou
Ali sent to the Presidency, which included ANIF's original
report and photocopies of bank statements showing the
transfer, in two payments, of 130,000,000 CFA into Biyiti Bi
Essam's personal account with the French Societe General des
Banques in Cameroon (SGBC). ANIF's file includes a letter
from Minister of Finance Essimi Menye confirming that Biyiti
Bi Essam received a total of 700,000,000 CFA.

Caught in the Cookie Jar
--------------


4. (C) The prosecutor for the Yaounde High Court deposed
Biyiti Bi Essam for three hours on April 23. In his own
comments to the media, Biyiti Bi Essam claimed he received
the funds from the Ministry of Finance in "sacks of cash"
after business hours. Claiming he tried to identify a safe
where he could guard the funds, Biyiti Bi Essam insists he
placed the funds in his account only for safe-keeping and
that he can prove that all funds were spent appropriately.
Hubert Nde Sambone, the Director of ANIF, told Poloff on
April 23 that even if Biyiti Bi Essam truly spent the money
appropriately (a supposition Sambone did not find credible),
the simple act of placing the funds in a personal account is
a flagrant violation of the laws governing the use of GRC
funds.

Comment: Good News for ANIF
is Good News for the USG
--------------


5. (C) Post and other USG agencies have engaged heavily with
ANIF, so we are especially gratified to see ANIF receive
credit for discovering Biyiti Bi Essam's mismanagement of GRC
funds. We are also encouraged to see the growing trust and

YAOUNDE 00000393 002.2 OF 002


communication between ANIF (which falls under the Ministry of
Finance) and the Ministry of Justice, which has been wary of
collaborating with "outside" investigators. Whereas Ali had
previously told us he did not launch high-profile court cases
without Biya's green light and never against a sitting
minister, the swift response by judicial authorities may help
establish a precedent for future cases.

Comment: A Drop in an Ocean
of Mismanagement
--------------


6. (C) Whatever the outcome of Biyiti Bi Essam's journey
through the judicial system, the larger problem remains
Cameroon's pervasive mismanagement of its budget and
resources. The GRC, recently emerged from multilateral debt
relief worth almost $5 billion, continues to manage public
funds like a multibillion dollar petty cash fund. We have
received first-hand accounts of Biya's entourage paying to
refuel his airplane with suitcases filled with hundreds of
thousands of dollars in cash. When Biya traveled to the
United Nations General Assembly in September 2008, a member
of his entourage was caught as he tried to escape from Biya's
Geneva hotel with a bag filled with 3,400,000 CFA (about $6.8
million) in cash. We continue to engage with ANIF and others
struggling to save Cameroon from its own debilitating
corruption, but our success will be limited until the GRC
begins conducting itself with greater accountability. End
comment.
FOX