Cameroon’s hidden billions: Issa Tchiroma Bakary exposes massive looting of gold, oil, and timber

Issa Tchiroma Bakary details how over 10 trillion CFA francs vanished from Cameroon’s gold, oil, and wood sectors, along with fraud, tax evasion, and illicit enrichment by President Paul Biya’s inner circle. Here is an excerpt from his recent public statement.

“Fellow compatriots, I was alerted to the stolen gold valued at 2,000 billion CFA francs. That was enough for me to task my teams in Cameroon and abroad to thoroughly examine the state of public finances. What they found sparks anger, pain, astonishment, and even revolt. Indeed, it is obvious that in 43 years, the regime has dragged Cameroon from relative prosperity into absolute poverty for its people.

Let me present the facts. The first pillar of plunder involves subsoil resources, especially oil. For 40 years, the SNH generated oil revenues outside the budget, outside parliamentary control, and without any transparency. The IMF, World Bank, and EITI have flagged massive outflows that never appeared in official accounts. Oil sold cheap to Glencore at less than 30% of its value, missing shipments, and unrecorded SNH revenues total several thousand billion CFA francs. Forests suffered the same fate: 80% of wood is sold illegally. Cameroon’s land has been looted openly with state complicity. Between gold, oil, and timber, over 10 trillion CFA francs have vanished.

The second aspect concerns direct embezzlement through fraudulent contracts. Budget lines 65 and 94, covering 2012 to 2021, were simply erased. These two lines alone represent 5,400 billion CFA francs in unjustified expenses. The TCS, created by Biya himself, judged and convicted his own servants for nearly 9,000 billion CFA francs in embezzlement between 1997 and 2021. And what about ghost workers? According to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Treasury, over 20,000 phantom civil servants appeared on payrolls for years. The annual damage has hovered around 200 billion CFA francs. Everyone remembers the major scandals: the Yaoundé-Douala highway, the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and COVID-19 vaccines, where documented overbilling exceeds 500 billion CFA francs.

The third pillar covers tax and customs fraud. ANIF and CONAC have established systematic fraud mechanisms. Their official figures: 1,665 billion CFA francs in suspicious transactions in 2023 alone; 1,246 billion CFA francs in documented customs fraud over six years; 1,745 billion CFA francs in scanning fraud at the Port of Douala attributed to SGS. Given these numbers, one understands the shameful spectacle between SGS and Transatlantic at the Port of Douala since 2026: two regime clans fighting over control of the same institutionalized fraud.

The fourth and final pillar concerns the personal enrichment of the clan. It is established that the Biya clan has industrially diverted public wealth to acquire personal assets in Cameroon, France, and the Middle East. Dutch authorities identified 744 million euros in ill-gotten assets in France, plus the Nyom estate of the SGPR valued at 18 billion CFA francs; assets in Dubai estimated at 44 billion CFA francs; stays at the Hotel Continental in Geneva at 50,000 dollars per night for the entire delegation. Without exception, Mr. Biya, his wife, his son, the SGPR, the DCC, the DCCA, the MINAT, and many others have accumulated considerable personal fortunes without ever complying with the asset declaration requirement of Article 66 of the Constitution.

My dear compatriots, the total amount of plunder is revolting. The conservative scenario stands at 26,000 billion CFA francs. This figure is a lower bound, as the regime has perfected the art of concealment through straw men and tax havens. By reasonable extrapolation, our experts estimate the real amount could reach 80,000 billion CFA francs. To illustrate the scale of this pillage: with 26,000 billion CFA francs, Cameroon could have paid 36 years of salaries for all 380,000 teachers, health workers, and soldiers combined, and built 2,600 district hospitals, or 260 per region.

Fellow compatriots, there will be no amnesty or secret negotiation trading impunity for a silent transition. Any senior official guilty of malfeasance will answer for their actions before competent national and international courts.”