“Father” against “son”?

MebeNgo’o quizzed on embezzlement scandal

Edgard Alain MebeNgo’o

He has not been formally accused, but the President of the Republic who ordered the interrogation does not understand how a suspicious financial operation would be carried out by a senior military official without the knowledge of the Minister of Defence at the time

By Tanyi Kenneth Musa in Yaounde

The current minister of Transport Edgard Alain MebeNgo’o seems to be in for trouble. Barely two months after he was dropped from his position as minister delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, he was interrogated on an issue that has to do with the swindling of hundreds of millions of FCFA while he occupied his former post.

                Dependable sources at the Presidency have told The Median that the amount in question is 315 million FCFA put at the disposal of the Interregional Coordination Centre for Maritime Safety in the Gulf of Guinea, headed by Senegalese born Col. AbdourahmaneDieng. This money, specially withdrawn by the Presidency of the Republic, was meant for Cameroon’s participation in the putting in place of the said centre.

                What is problematic, we were told, is the fact that the amount was not transferred in its entirety to the centre. Rear Admiral Jean Mendoua, the marine chief of staff, through whose hands the passed, is reported to have reserved 232 million FCFA for his cabinet and handed a paltry 77.757 million FCFA to Col. Abdourahmane for the centre he heads. Where the remaining 5.249 million went, no one can tell.

                If MebeNgo’o has been implicated in the matter, it is because he was minister of Defence when the operation took place.

                “MebeNgo’o’s quizzing took place under the high instruction of the President of the Republic who is not very happy with his ‘son’”, one of our sources told us. “The President does not understand how such an operation could take place without the knowledge of the then minister of Defence.”

                Put on mission by Jean Baptiste Bokam, secretary of state in charge of the gendarmerie, Colonel Nsom it was who interrogated Edgard Alain MebeNgo’o in the cabinet of his ministry on Friday, 4 December 2015. The content of the interrogation is not exactly known to The Median neither has the minister been officially accused of involvement in the scam. However, the quizzing does not augur well for MebeNgo’o, especially as it was ordered by his “father”, President Paul Biya.

                The close-to-59-year-old minister of Transport did marvels as delegate general for National Security, but his seven-year stay at the Defence ministry left much to be desired. Unsatisfactory comments were made from close circles when he piloted the juicy contract of the buying of arms for the fight against Boko Haram; the buying of Ukrainian combat helicopters; and the buying of combat vehicles as well as those for the transport of troops.