Embezzlement Of Public Funds: Former SCDP Boss, Nguini Effa, Liberated After 15 Years In Jail, Says He Is Still Useful To The Country

Nguini Effa thanks President Biya for constantly ensuring that there is “equitable justice”

The former General Manager of the National Petroleum Depot commonly known in French as SCDP, Dr Jean Baptiste Nguini Effa, on Thursday, August 29, 2024 regained his freedom after having spent 15 years behind bars, precisely at the Yaounde Central Prison commonly known as Kondengui Prison, for embezzlement of public funds.

Nguini Effa who was appointed General Manager of SCDP in 1994 by President Paul Biya, was arrested with some of his collaborators in 2009 for alleged embezzlement of 2.2 billion FCFA (Two billion, two hundred million francs CFA). It should however be noted that the financial investigation or audit that discovered this missing amount of 2.2 billion FCFA, was limited just to the period of 2005 – 2009, that is during 4 years  of his 15 years in office. The financial investigation thus did not cover the entire period of 15 years that Nguini Effa, a member of the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM, was General Manager of SCDP.

Meanwhile the former General Manager of SCDP,  Nguini Effa, was initially slammed a 30 year jail term  for the embezzlement of public funds, while his  former collaborators received  imprisonment sentences ranging from 10 -12 years. Nguini Effa filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against the ruling. In a judgment delivered in June 2022, the Supreme Court slashed the initial jail term by half, thus leaving Nguini Effa with a 15 year jail term. He finally got to the end of the 15 year period, and so regained his freedom on August 29, 2024.

Thanks President Biya

In a video message that was recorded at his Yaounde residence shortly after he returned home after  spending 15 years at the Kondengui Prison, Nguini Effa  thanked  the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, whom he said constantly ensures that there is equitable justice. It is clear as to what he meant by that. Meanwhile in the evening of the same August 29, a mass service was organised at the residence of Nguini Effa, during which he thanked God for having kept him in good health during the 15 years he spent in jail. He also prayed for all the inmates he left behind at the Kondengui Prison, and said anybody can go to prison.

Jean Baptiste Nguini Effa who was born on May 15, 1955, was one of the fortunate Cameroonians who befitted from a scholarship granted by the State of Cameroon, to study abroad after high school. After leaving high school in Yaounde, Nguini Effa travelled to France for further studies. He was on scholarship of the State of Cameroon in France for as long as 10 long years and finally returned to home as a petrochemical engineer, and also as a holder of a doctorate degree in science (chemistry).

Despite his imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds, 69 year old Jean Baptiste Nguini Effa seemingly still has hopes that one day he could still be appointed to ‘serve’ the country. He said after the mass service at his Yaounde residence in the evening of August 29, that as long as he lives, he will remain useful to his family and country, and so will be ready and willing to serve his country at anytime.