(Business in Cameroon) - On December 22, 2017, the National Anti-corruption Commission (CONAC) revealed the scale of corruption at Cameroon’s customs administration. This was disclosed in its report 2016, published that day, in Yaoundé, the country’s capital.  

The report showed that because of corruption and fraud practices, which are widespread within the sector, the public treasury has lost CFA1, 246 billion between 2010 and 2015.  

This represents 75% of Cameroon’s public investment budget (BIP) in 2016 (CFA1, 500 billion). A consequent part of this amount is the consequence of inconsistencies between the figures declared by customs and those actually paid to the public treasury.

CONAC‘s report also highlights the lavish lifestyle of Cameroon’s customs who have a luxurious neighborhood in a suburb of Douala, the economic capital.

According to CONAC, 21 customs auditioned during the investigation, confessed that they were owners of many houses build in Douala and other places as well as bank accounts with more than CFA134 million credit balance.

“The most famous” of those wealthy civil servants is a customs adjuvant serving in Maroua, in the far-north. Without revealing his name, the report indicates that he “is the owner of 13 villa, built on titled lands, a 5-story building, also built on a titled land, and 10 registered lands”.

To this large real estate properties, “five 30-ton trucks, five 28-seats Toyota Coaster, two 18-seat buses and a car fleet full of world-class vehicles add to his property register”.

Brice R. Mbodiam