By Noela EBOB BISONG
National Hydrocarbons Corporation better known by its French acronym SNH, recently released a statement on the Glencore corruption scandal, positioning itself as being very ready and willing to let justice prevail over alleged perpetrators within the ranks of the Corporation.
Recall that SNH has been named as one of the Corporations wherein certain official(s) allegedly received bribes to the tune of FCFA7 billion to push the agenda of the Glencore Company within the oil sector in Cameroon.
According to a statement issued by the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) and signed by its Director General, Adolphe Moudiki, last September 10, it read in part that, “The hearing began at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court (London) that declared itself incompetent with respect to the seriousness of the charges. The case has been referred back to Southwark Crown Court and bail granted to the six defendants, pending the next hearing on 08th October”.
The Corporation nonetheless stated its readiness to flush out architects of the crime, chronicling its actions in that light since the scandal broke out few years ago.
“It is worth mentioning that SNH wrote to Glencore on 30th May 2022, immediately this affair broke out, and again on 05th June 2023 following Glencore’s conviction on 03rd November 2022, for the names of SNH officials allegedly involved in this affair. But Glencore refused to provide the names, citing an “anonymity clause” concluded with the Serious Fraud Office, a government agency attached to the Attorney General that was conducting the investigations,” SNH explains in the statement.
Reacting to the move by SNH, International legal mind and a key speaker on the Glencore affair in Cameroon, Barrister Akere Muna outlines that, SNH in its statement on the issue fails to address two salient aspects: “SNH does not address the charge sheet, which outlines the accusations against the defendants… SNH does not explain why the percentage of the discount accorded to Vitol changed from 70% to 34% and from 30% to 15% for Glencore. SNH has again been caught lying”.
Opposing SNH’s assumption on the competence of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on the case, Akere says, “The court did not declare itself incompetent. Instead, it identified the six accused individuals and allowed them to remain on bail without any conditions. The court ensured that all parties understood the facts and charges presented. It then informed the parties that, due to the gravity of the offenses, the case would be transferred to Southwark Crown Court, where it is scheduled to be called on October 8 at 9:30 AM.”
According to him, “ If the court were to declare itself incompetent, it would not have heard any part of the case, ruled on bail, or proceeded to transfer the matter to another court while fixing a date and time. The magistrate was performing duties akin to those of a “Juge de mise en état” in French law”, he holds.
The case
Reports have it that, between April 2007 and December 2014, some of Glencore’s top executives including Martin Wakefield, Alexander Beard and Andrew Gibson plotted to engage corrupt payments to some government officials in Cameroon in line with oil transactions. The corruption scandal in Africa touches two of Cameroon’s oil sectors, SNH and the National Refining Company, SONARA. Their actions now being uncovered, are contrary to section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. The SUN gathered that in 2019, all of Glencore’s top executives and the Board were dismissed. At the moment, six of the seven defendants have been named, but the case in Cameroon still hangs in the air.
SNH in its statement on the subject, maintains that it is ready to bring to book all officials involved in the case once their identities are uncovered. However, Akere Muna thinks their statement is ill-fated. “SNH’s communiqué references November 2022, which is somewhat ironic, considering that when I first revealed this case, SNH claimed it was untrue and that their internal regulations prohibited such actions. SNH stated that it had written to Glencore to request the names of those they admitted to corrupting. How can one ask criminals to disclose the names of their accomplices?”, he questions.