National and international banking community was last Tuesday, August 9 hit with the news of the arrest of four individuals accused of siphoning the sum of FCFA 50 billion from BICEC during the period running from 2003 to 2015.Their arrest was ordered by the Wouri High Court and they have been placed under detention awaiting trial at the New Bell central prison
The four accused are: the former deputy general manager Leopold Innocent ONDOA NKOU, Samuel NGANDO MBONGUE, former chief accountant at BICEC and two external elements : Benoit EKOKA a chattered account and Martin NYAMSI the CEO of INTERFACE a service provider to the BICEC Cameroon.
These four are accused of fraud, impersonation, over billing, ordering the settlement of bills to ghost suppliers amongst others. They are believed to have formed a strong fraud network which caused the bank to lose huge amounts of its liquidity.
The alarm sounded by the new Managing Director, French-born Alain RIPERT immediately he took over office early 2016 as he demanded for an external audit when he realized a weakness in the internal audit. It is also worth noting that, the pan African magazine Jeune Afrique had earlier published claims bringing out mass financial mismanagement at BICEC earlier. Together with the Managing Director’s request, the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) also ordered an indepth audit of this financial house. It was at the end of these audits that the network of financial fraud was unmasked.
As immediate consequence, the deputy general manger was forced to resign mid this year and was replaced by Mrs. KONDO Isabelle. Report also revealed that, the ex deputy GM had earlier fled the country to Sao Tome and Principe but was forced to return to Cameroon by INTERPOOL.
As a result of this financial scandal revealed by the audits, BICEC filed a case at the Wouri High Court in March 20016. Further investigation led to the arrest of these four last Tuesday evening.
It is worth noting that between 2003 and 2015 when these crimes are said to have been committed, BICEC Cameroon has had four general managers of French origin and none of them noticed anything with respect to what is making news today. Besides, the board of directors meetings has been holding on a regular bases and management accounts validated. The last straw which seems to have broken the camel’s back was a strike action by employees of the said bank early this year demanding the payment of their annual benefits owed them by the bank.
It was then that concerns of insufficient liquidity were raised. It took the intervention of the minister of labour and social security, Gregoire OWONA for dust to settle.
This unfortunate situation has led to the temporary closure of many micro finance institutions as well as commercial banks.