Imminent Indictment in Embezzlement Scandal Hastens Atanga Nji’s Departure from Gov’t!

Paul Atanga Nji is CPDM Section President

(NewsWatch Cameroon)-Paul Atanga Nji, the Minister and chargé de mission at the Presidency of the Republic must be bracing himself for the arrest that should soon come in the wake of the transfer to the Special Criminal Court of the file indicting him and several others for the embezzlement of billions of francs CFA within the framework of the financial scandal that rocked the Cameroon Postal Services, CAMPOST for nearly a decade and from which it is no exaggeration to claim, the institution has never really recovered.

While a multitude of individuals are being pursued for this swindle, Paul Atanga Nji stands out – partly because of his status as a minister, but above all because of the sheer enormity of the charges against him. If the reports that recently emerged regarding this issue are to be believed, then the man who doubles as CPDM Section President for Mezam I –alongside the other prominent defendant, Amougou Belinga of the media group, Anecdote – is being held to account for more than 1.2 billion FCFA  out of the total that was misappropriated at CAMPOST.

According to the Supreme State Audit which conducted investigations at two CAMPOST centres in Yaounde – CCP I and CCP II, Paul Atanga Nji and his associates, with the complicity of CAMPOST personnel made use of irregular deposits, unjustified payments and fictitious deposits to defraud the state of more than 1.7 billion FCFA. At CCP I, 243 irregular and fictitious payments were  made into 79 accounts resulting in the embezzlement of more than 1.15 billion with 319 million going into account No. 031562-00458 owned by Atanga Nji. At CCP II, through similarly shady methods, the minister managed to enrich himself with a further illegally obtained 469,500000 FCFA.

Curiously, although virtually all this information was available by the end of 2011, the minister had never come under scrutiny before now – possibly thanks to his political connections. However, it is clearly evident that his luck has run out. Quite apart from illustrating the seriousness of his predicament, the very fact that his indictment at the Special Criminal Court appears to be driven by the Presidency of the Republic, is evidence - if any were required - that Atanga Nji has fallen out of favour at the highest levels and even if he is yet to stand trial for these allegations, his chances of being retained in Biya’s government after the imminent cabinet reshuffle are practically nil.

This Article was also Published in NewsWatch Newspaper N°007