Minister Emmanuel Bonde interrogated by the Police

Emmanuel Bonde, Minister of industry, Mines and technological development (Minmidt), is again on hot coals, especially after his recent interrogation by the police a few days ago.

The weekly journal, Repères, in its Wednesday, July 22, 2015 publication, informed that sources close to the case confirmed the hearing.

But according to the Delegation General for national security, noted the journal, it was the National anti-corruption Commission (Conac), which is on the case and following the various revelations of bribery attempt made to the press by the project sponsor and general manager of Justin Sugar Mills (JSM) company.

As a reminder, the newspaper referred to the interview published in its columns on December 10, 2014, where Dieudonné Mirabeau Dong Thry Dong, the DG of JSM, stated that Minmidt required 25% of the shares with a value of 3.75 billion CFA francs for free for the construction project of the sugar complex at the Bertoua-Batouri interzone. It was a requirement that was rejected and resulted in the beginning of problems according to the DG of JSM.

The prosecution referred to presentation of a false audit by the Minister to block the project, launched on November 26, 2014, despite warnings from the Prime Minister, of the procedure for the recruitment of a new economic operator for the realization of the said sugar complex.

Before the blockages, Mr. Dong Thry Dong notified the head of State, Paul Biya, on January 31, 2015. Then again on March 2, 2015, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, SG of the Presidency, asked Louis Paul Motaze, the SG of the Services of the Prime Minister, to make an account, "for complete information to the head of State.” On 27 March, the stakeholders convened by the Prime Minister recommended the opening of JSM. Meanwhile, revealed the newspaper, activities were blocked, creditors increased pressures. Pressure also came from JSM SA lawyers who noted that “it was no more possible to wait.”

These lawyers recalled that “the facts given by Cameroon constitute violations of the interests protected by the bilateral investment protection agreement concluded between the Cameroon Republic and England, as well as the Cameroon Republic and the Netherlands.”

Consequently, the journal concluded with pessimism that: "before such a threat, and the quasi-absolute loss of this trial by the State of Cameroon, the latter established the responsibility of blocking the realization of sugar agro-industrial draft at the Bertoua-Batouri interzone. This led to the summons of Emmanuel Bonde before the Conac and Police.