Covidgate: Biya closing down on Prime Minister Dion Ngute

Prime Minister Dion Ngute’s chief of staff, Balungeli Confiance Ebune is expected to appear before the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé next week.

The Balungeli Confiance Ebune hearing comes after those of many other collaborators of Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, the so-called Anglophone Prime Minister and Head of Government.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that Balungeli Confiance Ebune instructed the Minister of Public Health to award a juicy contract for the supply of three million rapid tests equipment to the company Mediline Medical Cameroon SA.

He will be interrogated along with Cameroon government ministers cited in a report on the fight against covid-19.

In an explosive revelation now known in Cameroon as Covidgate, the audit chamber of the Supreme Court recently identified 30 cases of fraud.

The report also exposed numerous dysfunctions and embezzlements in the management of anti-Covid 19 funds, involving cabinet ministers and other senior officials of the Biya regime.  

For instance, the Ministry of Research and Innovation announced that it had the capacity to produce 5 million chloroquine tablets and 5 million Azythromycin tablets locally. But the report from the Chamber of Accounts at the Supreme Court revealed that these drugs cost the state more than 4 billion CFA francs and their production was in fact carried out by an Indian manufacturer.

The Indian made drugs were simply packaged upon arrival in Cameroon. The CPDM crime manoeuvre is seen as a strategy that led to the embezzlement of more than 5 billion CFA francs from the state coffers.  

The audit chamber of the Supreme Court also reported that the acquisition of personal protective equipment was budgeted at nearly 3 billion CFA francs but the deal was done at more than 23 billion CFA francs-an overrun of 20 billion CFA francs.

The purchase of anti-Covid 19 tests at astronomical prices made the state lose some 15 billion FCFA.

The publication of the report has caused indignation and excitement in the country. In reaction, René Emmanuel Sadi, the Minister of Communication and government spokesperson, acknowledged that investigations are underway, but called for respect for the presumption of innocence.

By Fon Lawrence