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### Viewing cable 09YAOUNDE608, C) CENTRAL BANK SOURCE: "GABONESE STOLE $40

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09YAOUNDE608 | 2009-07-07 12:12 | 2010-12-28 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Yaounde

`

    VZCZCXRO5655
    RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
    DE RUEHYD #0608/01 1881258
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 071258Z JUL 09
    FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0076
    INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
    RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
    RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 000608

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2019
    TAGS: KCOR EFIN PREL PGOV ECON CM
    SUBJECT: (C) CENTRAL BANK SOURCE: "GABONESE STOLE $40
    MILLION, FUNNELED SOME TO FRENCH POLITICS"

    REF: YAOUNDE 147

    Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 b and d.

    ¶1. (C) Summary. Senior Gabonese officials in the Bank of
    Central African States (BEAC) colluded to embezzle more
    than 18.3 billion CFA (about $36 million) from the pooled
    reserves of the six states of the Central African Economic
    and Monetary Community (CEMAC) over the past five years,
    according to a senior Embassy contact at the bank. In a
    June 12 meeting with Poloff, the source, a senior
    third-country national, said BEAC discovered the crime
    during internal audits conducted in the wake of revelations
    that Gabonese national and BEAC Governor Philip Andzembe
    had covertly placed 500 million Euros in high-risk
    investmentQwith French bank Societe Generale (reftel).
    According to the Embassy source, senior Gabonese political
    leadership, including the late President Omar Bongo and his
    son, Defense Minister and presidential hopeful, Ali Bongo
    benefitted from the embezzlement. The source said Gabonese
    officials used the proceeds for their own enrichment and,
    at Bongo's direction, funneled funds to French political
    parties, including in support of French President
    Nicholas Sarkozy. End summary.

    Audit Reveals Deeper Issues
    ---------------------------

    ¶2. (C) The BEAC official asked Poloff to meet on June 12
    to discuss "a sensitive issue that I want the U.S. to hear
    about from me, before it appears in the media." Recalling
    the political tensions created by the revelation that BEAC
    Governor and Gabonese national Philip Andzembe had, in
    violation of BEAC regulations and unbeknownst to the BEAC
    board, placed 500 million euro of BEAC deposits in a
    high-risk investment with French bank Societe Generale
    (Reftel), the BEAC official said the consequent review of
    BEAC's accounts had revealed even broader and more brazen
    malfeasance linked to a hierarchy of Gabonese officials
    throughout BEAC. (Note: Under the agreement that created
    BEAC in 1972 it was decided that, in light of their relative
    economic predominance in the region, Cameroon would host
    BEAC's headquarters while Gabon would maintain exclusive
    power to appoint the BEAC Governor. For more information
    on how the politics of oil of affected the region and BEAC
    see reftel. End note.)

    The Easy Way to Rob a Bank
    --------------------------

    ¶3. (C) The BEAC official explained that Gabonese
    President Bongo's control of BEAC was more extensive than
    the Governor's office; the Director of Accounting, the
    Deputy Director of Accounting, the officials overseeing
    international wire transfers, and the accountant in BEAC's
    Paris branch have all been Gabonese nationals appointed by
    Bongo. Working in concert, these officials were able to
    subvert BEAC's safeguards. The Paris accountant was, until
    recently, Gabonese national Armand Brice Nzamba, who is a
    close personal friend of Ali Bongo, according to Post's
    contact at BEAC. The BEAC official said BEAC had contacted
    the Paris "financial police" who were investigating Nzamba
    until he fled France earlier this year. Gabonese national
    Maurice Moutsinga served as the Director of Accounting in
    BEAC Headquarters for 20 years until his retirement in
    ¶2007.

    ¶4. (C) The embezzlement moved through three main
    Channels, according to the official:

    --in checks made out in the names of the BEAC officials
    themselves; BEAC's investigations have already tracked 18.3
    billion CFA ($36.6 million) that were embezzled in checks
    made out in the name of Gabonese officials. As a result,
    Nzamba accumulated personal wealth of more than of more 1
    billion CFA ($2 million) on an annual salary of about
    $36,000;

    --in checks made payable to shell companies; the main
    recipients were Papieterie Classique and Tour 55 in France
    and Chaiab in Morocco, and;

    --in checks made out to Gabonese politicians, including the
    wife of Leon Mebiane, who was Gabon's Prime Minister from
    1975-1990.

    Did French Politicians Benefit?
    -------------------------------

    YAOUNDE 00000608 002 OF 002

    ¶5. (C) Asked what the officials did with the stolen
    funds, the BEAC official responded, "sometimes they kept it
    for themselves, sometimes they funneled it to French
    political parties." Asked who received the funds, the
    official responded, "both sides, but mostly the right;
    especially Chirac and including Sarkozy." The BEAC
    official said "Bongo was France's favorite President in
    Africa," and "this is classic France Afrique." He said
    technocrats from the French Treasury were relatively
    progressive in encouraging the francophone governments to
    be more autonomous, but that the Banque de France
    continued to exert an outsized influence.

    CEMAC Presidency's React
    ------------------------

    ¶6. (C) The BEAC official said the CEMAC Heads of State
    were understandably upset to learn about the deeper
    governance problems at BEAC. In a January 2009 meeting to
    discuss Anzembe's deal with Societe Generale, Biya had called
    for Andzembe's immediate dismissal. According to the
    official, Biya pounded the table during a recent meeting
    with his CEMAC counterparts and asked, in reference to his
    own anti-corruption campaign, "Don't you read the press?
    We throw people like this in jail in my country!"
    Equato-Guinean President Obiang, long-frustrated that his
    deposits at BEAC exceeded his influence in the institution,
    was more "patient," calling for audits because, according
    to the BEAC official, "he knew what the audits would find
    [regarding Andzembe's malfeasance] and that the resulting
    pressure to institute a Presidency that rotates among the
    member states would be inevitable."

    Audit of SG Placement Continues
    -------------------------------

    ¶7. (C) The Audit Committee includes representatives from
    the six CEMAC economies plus a representative from the
    French Treasury. The Heads of States agreed to conduct two
    audits, a general review of internal accounts and a
    specific investigation into Andzembe's unauthorized
    placement of funds at Societe Generale. According to the BEAC
    official, the investigators have yet to understand fully the
    details of the SG account. "Even SG tells us that they are
    unable to determine the structure of the investment that
    Anzembe made!" he marveled. The official theorized that SG
    had used the BEAC funds to help "plug the hole" created by
    the Kerviel rogue trader scandal, but that the financial
    crisis had overwhelmed SG and swallowed BEAC's funds.

    Jail for Some;
    End of Gabon's Monopoly
    ----------------------

    ¶8. (C) The BEAC official said his own government and
    others would seek jail time for some of the officials, but
    that there would be pressure to deal delicately with the
    new Gabonese Government. Ali Bongo, he said, is close
    personal friends with BEAC Governor Anzembe.
    Institutionally, he predicted, these scandals will mean the
    end of Gabon's monopoly on the Governorship, which will now
    rotate among the member states, and will lead to revisions to
    internal
    controls.

    Comment: A Governance Lesson Learned
    ------------------------------------

    ¶9. (C) This tale of grand-scale corruption is
    unfortunate, especially coming as it does during an
    economic crisis that has depleted the region's resources,
    but the strong reaction from Biya and Obiang suggests
    Gabon's foul play might result in better management--more
    transparency and autonomy--of BEAC's resources. Our hope
    is that CEMAC leaders internalize the lesson that secretive
    management of public resources is a recipe for waste and
    abuse and apply it to BEAC and their domestic
    institutions. Post is unable to assess the veracity of the
    allegation that French politicians benefitted from BEAC's
    loss, but it is the type of claim--that France encourages
    and preys upon corrupt leaders in the region--that will
    gain currency in popular opinion if, as the BEAC official
    predicted, the story leaks to the press. End comment.

    GARVEY

`