A Cameroonian court has sentenced a former defence minister, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o to 30 years in prison for stealing approximately $40 million.
Ngo’o was found to have embezzled the money through contracts for the acquisition of military equipment from Brazil.
The court also found that his wife, Bernadette, had been complicit in the fraud.
Bernadette Minla Nkoulou, who was detained at the same time, was found guilty of embezzling and taking an interest in 5 billion CFA francs. For this, she was sentenced to ten years in prison. Many of the defendants’ assets, including luxury cars, residences, and land titles, were seized by the court.
The couple’s dealings were exposed in 2010 by journalist Jules Koum Koum in 2010, who later died in a road accident.
The couple denied any guilt, and their counsel stated that they will appeal the judgements to the Supreme Court
Also Maxime Leonard Mbangue, a Treasury inspector and ex-technical adviser to the Ministry of Defence, and Colonel Elie Mboutou, a former close ally of Mebe Ngo’o, were also found guilty of embezzling public monies for amounts of 6 and 16 billion CFA francs, respectively. They were each sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Victor Menye, a former deputy general manager of the Cameroon Banking Company (SCB), was cleared of corruption charges but found guilty of involvement in aggravated money laundering. He received a nine-year prison sentence.
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