Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Barrister Simon Serge Kack Kack, insist that there has to be presumption of innocence, for any suspect in the GLENCORE Affair in Cameroon.
Cameroonian authorities suspect that there were accomplices in the Police and Customs, and have ordered for investigation
Pressure continues to mount on the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde to effectively take up the GLENCORE Affair as concerns Cameroon, especially after the Southwark Crown Court in London in the session that held from October 8 9, 2024 pushed the beginning of hearing in the matter to as far as June 1, 2027.
But there are indications that the Special Criminal Court will face serious challenges in handing the matter. The challenges facing the court have to do with having to find concrete proofs to show that the suspects in the matter that will have to stand trial, were actually involved in the 7 billion FCFA bribe scandal. This looks like one of the major reasons that Special Criminal Court has seemingly been dragging its feet on the matter.
It would be recalled that the Administrator – Director – General of the National Hydrocarbon Corporation (SNH), Adolph Moudili, after seeking and receiving authorization from the President of the Republic, deposited a complaint dated November 6, 2023 with the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde. The SNH Boss called on the Special Criminal Court to rapidly investigate the GLENCORE Affair as concerns Cameroon, identify the suspects, put them on trial and severely sanction those found guilty in line with the Cameroon Criminal Code. The Special Criminal Court actually started the investigation, but up till date, it is not clear as to how far the court has gone. From the point of view of the National Hydrocarbon Corporation commonly known as SNH, and the view of the public as well, the Special Criminal Court has so far not yet done much on the matter, as the court has so far not indicted any person in the GLENCORE Affair.
Sacking Of General Manager Of TRADEX Plc
After the London Court on October 9, 2024 decided that hearing in the GLENCORE Affair will only start on June 1, 2027, the National Hydrocarbon Corporation immediately stepped up pressure on the Special Criminal Court, to advance with the matter as concerns Cameroon.
The National Hydrocarbon Corporation which is the majority shareholder of TRADEX Plc, went ahead in an Extraordinary Board Meeting of the company the next day, precisely on Thursday, October 10, 2024, and pushed through a decision to sack the General Manager of the company, Simon Paley. He was the Commercial Director (Director of Marketing) at SNH during the period 2012 – 2015, that the big corruption scandal involving the oil company, GLENCORE, and some senior management personnel at SNH, the National Oil Refinery commonly known by the French acronym, SONARA, as well as government officials, reportedly grabbed the colossal sum that totaled 7 billion FCFA as bribe from GLENCORE. The corruption deal enabled the British – Swiss Company, GLENCORE, to benefit from a huge 30 % discount on Cameroon oil.
SNH Management thinks that such a deal could not have taken place without the involvement of the Commercial Director of the corporation, and so considers Simon Paley as a key suspect in the corruption deal or GLENCORE Affair, which took place when he was Commercial Manager of the corporation. However at the TRADEX Board Meeting, the National Hydrocarbon Corporation in order to avoid having any problem with the Law, avoided, directly naming Simon Paley as a suspect in the GLENCORE Affair, for it is for the judiciary to do so. The SNH instead talked of loose of confidence as reason for the decision to sack Simon Paley from the post of General Manager of TRADEX.
Why SNH Had Delayed The Sacking Of Simon Paley As GM Of TRADEX
From the look of things, the management of SNH held itself back since last year, from throwing out Simon Paley from post of General Manager of TRADEX. This was because the corporation, like many Cameroonians, had hoped that the former executives of GLENCORE that gave the huge bribe to some persons at SNH and SONARA, as well as to some Government officials, in Cameroon, would soon reveal the names, of those who received the bribes. But when the Southwark Crown Court in London decided at the court session on October 8 – 9, 2024, that hearing in the case will only start on June 1, 2027, the management of SNH could no longer wait. The SNH management then took the decision to have Simon Paley dismissed as General Manager of the TRADEX Company, with headquarters in Douala.
The Challenges Of Having To Prove A Bribe Case
But as aforementioned, one of the major reasons that the Special Criminal Court has seemingly been dragging on with the GLENCORE Affair as concerns Cameroon, is the difficulties in having to prove a bribe allegation, especially in the absence of one of the two parties. There are usually two parties in a case of bribery – the person who gives and the person who receives. It is easy for investigators to identify the two parties in the deal of bribery, when they are caught red handed. But in a corruption case like the GLENCORE Affair, things will not be easy for the Special Criminal Court.
Things would have been made easier for the Special Criminal Court, if those that gave the bribe in the GLENCORE Affair had revealed the names of those that received the bribe on the Cameroon side. That is seemingly what the Special Criminal Court was waiting for. If the former executives of GLENCORE that gave the bribes, had gone ahead at the court session of October 8 – 9, 2024 at the Southwark Crown Court in London, and revealed the names of those persons who received the money on the Cameroon side, it would have been easy then for the Special Criminal Court to pick up from there. But unfortunately, they did not.
An Example Of French Consortium’s Opposition To The Sacking Of TRADEX’s GM
Meanwhile, with pressure mounting on the Special Criminal Court, to go ahead with its investigation on the GLENCORE Affair in Cameroon, there are already indications that the court will face serious challenges going ahead with the matter. For example, when the National Hydrocarbon Corporation, the majority shareholder of TRADEX, insisted on the sacking of the General Manager of TRADEX, Simon Paley, at the Extraordinary Board Meeting of the company on October 10, 2024, a French Consortium which is the minority shareholder, argued against.
The French Consortium argued that the former executives of GLENCORE, that gave bribe to some people in Cameroon in the oil deal, have not yet named the persons to whom they gave the money. The French insisted that it was not right to consider Simon Paley as a suspect in the GLENCORE Affair, simply because he was the Commercial Director at SNH, during the period that the secret oil deal took place.
Barrister Kack Kack’s Reaction
During the weekly programme, ‘Droit de Reponse” over Equinox TV in Douala on Sunday, October 13, 2024, Barrister Simon Serge Kack Kack, who as one of the panelists, was asked to give his impression on the sacking of the General Manager of TRADEX, Simon Paley. Barrister Kack Kack said from his point of view as a lawyer, Simon Paley cannot be sanctioned for a crime he has not been declared to have committed. Barrister Kack Kack also argued that the declaration by SNH that the corporation has lost confidence in Paley, is supposed to come only after a court declares him guilty of the charge against him. The man of law explained that there is a presumption of innocence when somebody is still a suspect, and that it is only when he is found guilty of the charge leveled against him in a court of Law, that SNH can rightly talk of the loss of confidence in him.
Former Executives Of GLENCORE Will Not Appear In The Case
The opposition of the French Consortium to the decision by SNH to sack the General Manager of TRADEX because he is considered a suspect in the GLENCORE Affair, as well as the explanation of Barrister Kack Kack on the issue, are an indication of challenges that the Special Criminal Court will face in the handling the GLENCORE Affair.
More so, the former executives of GLENCORE who gave the bribe – money, will certainly not accept to collaborate with the Special Criminal Court on the matter, because they are in court in Britain on the issue, and will only reveal the names when the case begins at the London Court in June 2027.
Whatever the case, it is important or necessary that the Special Criminal Court complete its investigation on the GLENCORE Affair in Cameroon, and charged the suspects to court. Cameroonians cannot wait for 2027 to know the white collar thieves that betrayed the country, by receiving bribe to auction the country’s oil to the British –Swiss Company, GLENCORE.
Investigation To Track Down Accomplices
Meanwhile, Cameroonian authorities suspect that there were accomplices in the Police and Customs in the GLENCORE Affair in Cameroon. The huge sums of money that GLENCORE gave as bribe to some persons in Cameroon, that is, the total of 10.5 million euros which is an equivalent of 7 billion FCFA, reportedly did not pass through the banks to avoid suspicion or trace. The money was allegedly given to the Cameroonians in euros, as brought into Cameroon and in bank notes. This meant that even if the GLENCORE men brought in the money during 5 trips to Cameroon, that is, bringing in the sum of 2.1 million euros per trip, that amount was still too big to attract the attention of police and customs officers at Cameroon’s international airports.
The question that Cameroonian authorities are thus asking is how the total sum of 10.5 million euros could have been brought into the country by the GLENCORE Executives, without the Customs and police officers at the Douala and Yaounde international Airports, discovering. The authorities do strongly think that there were accomplices in the Police and Customs, and so have thus ordered for investigation.
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