Issa Tchiroma Bakary accuses Cameroon of losing over ten trillion CFA francs to graft
Gold, oil and timber losses account for over ten trillion CFA francs, opposition figure says
Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a prominent opposition leader in Cameroon, has presented detailed allegations of large-scale corruption and mismanagement under President Paul Biya’s administration. In a public statement, he claimed that more than ten thousand billion CFA francs have been lost through the illegal sale of gold, oil and timber.
Bakary pointed to the national oil company SNH, which he said generated billions in revenues outside the state budget for 40 years. He accused the company of selling oil to commodity trader Glencore at less than 30 percent of its real value and of failing to account for missing cargoes. Together with unrecorded revenues, these losses amount to several thousand billion CFA francs. He also alleged that 80 percent of Cameroon’s timber is sold illegally, with state complicity enabling open plundering of forest resources.
The second area of concern, according to Bakary, is the direct embezzlement of funds through fraudulent public contracts. He claimed that budget lines 65 and 94, covering the period from 2012 to 2021, were simply erased, representing 5,400 billion CFA francs in unexplained expenses. The Special Criminal Court, created by President Biya himself, has already convicted officials for nearly nine thousand billion CFA francs in theft between 1997 and 2021. Bakary also cited the presence of over 20,000 ghost workers on the public payroll, costing around 200 billion CFA francs annually. He referenced major scandals such as the Yaoundé-Douala highway, the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and COVID-19 vaccine procurements, where overpricing exceeded 500 billion CFA francs.
On tax and customs fraud, Bakary presented official figures from the National Financial Investigation Agency and the National Anti-Corruption Commission. These include 1,665 billion CFA francs in suspicious financial flows in 2023 alone, 1,246 billion CFA francs in documented customs fraud over six years, and 1,745 billion CFA francs in scanning fraud at the port of Douala attributed to inspection company SGS. He described a dispute between SGS and Transatlantic at the Douala port as two regime factions battling over the same institutionalized fraud.
Finally, Bakary addressed personal enrichment by the Biya family and close associates. He cited investigations by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) identifying 744 million euros in illicit assets in France, plus properties in Cameroon valued at 18 billion CFA francs, assets in Dubai worth 44 billion CFA francs, and luxury hotel stays in Geneva costing 50,000 dollars per night for the entire delegation. He noted that President Biya, his wife, son, and senior officials have never complied with constitutional asset declaration requirements.
Bakary concluded that the minimum total of these predations is 26 thousand billion CFA francs, a conservative estimate. He warned that with the regime’s use of shell companies and tax havens, the real figure could reach 80 thousand billion CFA francs. He noted that 26 thousand billion CFA francs could have financed 36 years of salaries for all 380,000 teachers, healthcare workers, and soldiers, or built 2,600 district hospitals. He vowed that there would be no amnesty or secret negotiations, and that any senior official guilty of embezzlement would face justice.
