Paul Atanga Nji summoned before Special Criminal Court over corruption charges

Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency, cum Permanent Secretary General at the National Security Council has been summoned to appear before the Attorney General of the Special Criminal Court, SCC tomorrow, Tuesday November 18 to answer charges involving corruption and embezzlement.

Atanga, a reliable source told the Journal, was initially summoned to appear before the SCC attorney last Thursday. He reportedly refused to show up, arguing that until he gets the authorization of President Biya with whom he works, he will not show up for grilling. The attorney then gave him a second chance for tomorrow Tuesday.

It is not yet clear the exact crime or amount that is being imputed on the minister for having embezzled. But the Journal has it on good authority that Atanga’s summons is not unconnected to a racket uncovered by the Supreme State Audit at the Cameroon Postal Services – CAMPOST in 2011. The audit was based on the financial transactions of the institution between 2004 and 2010 when Atanga was in charge.

According to the audit report, Atanga Nji had illegally made to be deposited into his account some 469M FCFA while he served at CAMPOST. The amount, according to the report was deposited into account no. 031562-004-58 (bank not disclosed) bearing the name “Ets des Jeunes homes d’affaires” but owned by Atanga.

The audit carried out in 2011 by three teams led by the current Permanent Secretary General of the Disciplinary Council, Mendouga Alima Marc was presented to the minister of Supreme State Aaudit, Etame Massoma same year. But Massoma was sacked from government few months later and action couldn’t progress.

The report of the audit was later deposited at the presidency and President Biya after flipping through, allegedly forwarded it to the SCC on December 31, 2013.

Earlier in 2007, CAMPOST had carried out a similar internal audit on the management of the postal check accounts of Yaounde I and II. At the end of the three-month internal audit, several illegal payments into fictitious accounts were reportedly uncovered.

The internal audit revealed for example that, at the Yaounde I postal check centre, the audit team uncovered 243 irregular payments into 79 current accounts corresponding to a total of 1.150.772.410 FCFA; the team also discovered that 144 payments bearing the sum of one billion sixty four million, two hundred and twenty three thousand nine hundred and ten francs (1.064.223.910FCFA) was registered on the bases of fabricated credits.

The audit committee noted that out of the above irregular payments at the Yaounde I postal check centre, Atanga Nji received into his account the sum of 319 MFCFA.

Meanwhile, at the Yaounde II postal check centre, the internal audit team found out that some four hundred and eighty eight million, five hundred and eight thousand, five hundred and twenty five francs (488.588.525 FCFA) was negligibly paid out.

Of the above figure, Atanga Nji, the report stated received the sum of 150.550.000 FCFA in a certain account no. 1002002440. The report concluded that within a period of few months, Atanga Nji’s account was inflated with the sum of four hundred and sixty nine million, five hundred and fifty thousand francs (469.550.000 FCFA).

It should be recalled that the national anti-corruption commission-CONAC, had in its 2010 annual report on corruption cited Atanga Nji amongst many others for illegally receiving questionable sums of money from the CAMPOST account.

The report had in the same vein recommended a no-nonsense judiciary investigation on the Special Duties Minister who also doubles as Mezam I CPDM Section President. But the judiciary was reportedly handicapped to pick up the file because by the time the report was released, the latter had been appointed into government.

Could it have been that judicial authorities needed the head of state’s green light to open investigations on the CAMPOST embezzlement scandal as it now appears?