The GLENCORE Affair: PART B – The Clash Of Communiqués

Barrister AKERE MUNA Rubbishes Press Release By The Administrator – Director General of SNH, ADOLPHE MOUDIKI, And Says, “THEY GOT IT ALL WRONG’.

In what was very much a contrast to the opaque management style of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation, SNH, for decades, the corporation rapidly issued a  press release at the end of  the much awaited court session, that came up on September 10, 2024 at  Westminster Magistrate Court on the GLENCIORE Affair. The communiqué was signed by the octogenarian Administrator – Director General of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, who has been General Manager of the corporation since February 7, 1993, whereas the Law fixes a maximum of 9 years for the General Manager of a State Corporation.

The communiqué was issued barely a few hours after the court session ended. The subject of the communiqué which as usual was only in the French language, read: GLENCOIRE Affair: SNH Determines To Follow-up And Ensure That All Personnel Implicated, Are Sanctioned.

GLENCORE Had Been Found Guilty And Condemned

In the press release, the Administrator – Director General of SNH noted that the  case on the GLENCORE Affair which came up at the Westminster Court in London on that September 10, was on the act of corruption for which GLENCORE was condemned by the Southwark Crown Court in London on November 3, 222. That was the earlier phase of the matter.  Moudiki admitted that the corruption took place in some African countries including Cameroon, and said as concerns Cameroon, it occurred during the period 2012 – 2015.

Case To Go Back To Southwark Crown Court

The Administrator – Director General of SNH noted that the hearing in the matter opened at the Westminster Court in London on that September 10, 2024. But he claimed that the court declared itself incompetent to handle the case, considering the gravity of the matter, and thus decided that the case should be sent back to the Southwark Crown Court that handled the early phase of matter. He said while waiting for the next hearing in the matter which will now be at the Southwark Crown Court still in London on October 10, 2024, the court pronounced on the liberty of the six defendants on caution.

Controversial Claims  

But from the look of things, the main message that the Administrator – Director General of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, wanted to put out to the public in the communiqué, was the image-cleansing claim that the management of SNH have since the outbreak of the scandalous GLENCORE affair in May 2022, been seriously following up the matter, to see to it that culprits in Cameroon are exposed and sanctioned.

Moudiki claimed that when the GLENCORE Affair came public on May 30, 2022, SNH contacted GLENCORE to get the names of its personnel implicated in the scandalous affair. He said SNH again contacted GLENCORE for the same purpose on June 5, 2023, after GLENCORE that was indicted for unethical business practice or corruption in some African countries, was condemned by the Southwark Crown Court in London on November 3, 2022. . But he said GLENCORE was opposed to the demand to reveal the names of SNH personnel that were implicated in the corruption scandal, under the pretext that the company had an agreement to respect the clause of anonymity, with the  Serious Fraud Office in Britain, which is a government agency attached to the Attorney General who was leading the investigation of the GLENCORE Affair.

The Administrator – Director General of SNH also claimed that when the GLENCORE Affair was exposed in May 2022, SNH prohibited all activities with the company, be it in the domain of exploitation, production as well as the commercialization of Cameroon oil.

Wants Those Implicated Unmasked, And Punished

The Administrator – Director General of SNH also made mentioned of the complaint that the company filed at the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde on November 6, 2023, inviting the court to carryout an investigation on the GLENCORE Affair as concerns Cameroon. He said SNH is still waiting on the Special Criminal Court to carry out the investigation, with the hope that all those persons implicated in the GLENCORE Affair which is an economic crime, will be unmasked, and punished in conformity with the Cameroon Penal Code.

Moudiki claimed that the National Hydrocarbon Corporation is so attached to ethical values, integrity, and what he termed, economic patriotism.

“They Got It All Wrong”

Meanwhile the reputed anti –corruption crusader and human rights lawyer, Barrister Akere Muna, former President of the Cameroon Bar Council,  who has been relentless  on the GLENCORE Affair as concerns Cameroon since the scandal sparked off, traveled to London for the September 10, 2024 court session which held at the Westminster Court. Barrister Muna who is also a member of the UK Bar Association, was in court as an observer.

In a communiqué he wrote on September 11, Barrister Muna said he deliberately went silent after the court session on September 10, for he decided to wait for a day before relating what happened at the court to Cameroonians. He said he decided to wait for a day because he was convinced that in the light of what he described as the current “communiqué diarrhea” plaguing the National Hydrocarbon Corporation these days, the corporation would after the court session rush to issue a communiqué to showcase their new found proactivity. “I was right, they did, but got it all wrong”, Muna remarked concerning the communiqué that the Administrator – Director General of SNH, issued on September 10. The communiqué on the GLENCORE Affair that came up at the Westminster Magistrate Court in London, earlier on that day.

“The Court Did Not Declare Its Incompetent” 

Barrister Akere Muna went on to point out why the SNH in the October 10 press release got it all wrong. He pointed out for example that the SNH in its communiqué was wrong to say that the Westminster Magistrate Court decided to transfer the matter to the Southwark Crown Court, because it was incompetent to handle the matter.

“The court did not declare itself incompetent. Instead, it identified the six accused individuals and allowed them to remain on bail without conditions. The court ensured that all parties understood the facts and charges presented. It then informed the parties that due to the gravity of the offenses, the case would be transferred to the Southwark Crown Court, where it is scheduled to be called on October 8 at 9.30am. If  the court were to declare itself incompetent, it would not have heard part of the case, ruled on bail, or proceed to transfer the matter to another court while fixing a date and time. The Magistrate was performing duties akin to those of a ‘juge de mise en etat’ in French Law. At the Southwark Crown Court, the defendants will be arraigned’, Barrister, Akere Muna, explained the legal facts of what happened at the Westminster Court on September 10 to the public. The Senior Barrister at the same time gave a lesson in Law to the National Hydrocarbon Corporation which has a whole department of legal affair, with the Director being the  wife of the Administrator – Director General of the corporation,  Adolphe Moudiki.

Insinuates There Were Lies In The SNH Communiqué Of September 10

Barrister Akere Muna also stated that the SNH communiqué of September 10, in which the company claimed that it contacted GLENCORE after the November 3, 2022 ruling by the Southward Crown Court, and demanded that  the company should communicate to SNH the names of its personnel that were implicated in the corruption scandal,  was somewhat ironic. He said this was considering the fact that when he first brought up the GLENCORE Affair, SNH claimed it was untrue, and also said that their internal regulations prohibited such acts.

Muna added that: “SNH stated that it had written to CLENCORE to request the names of those they tadmitted to corrupting. How can one ask criminals to disclose the names of their accomplices? In 2019, all of GLENCORE’s top executives and the Board were dismissed. SNH which professes to uphold ethical values, integrityand economic patriotism (whatever that means) had one clear course of action to terminate GLENCORE’s contracts, which were fraudulently obtained. The applicable legal principle is ‘fraus Omnia corrumpit’.Yet SNH has taken no action – not even a simple suit”, Barrister Akere Muna pointed out.