(Business in Cameroon) - On October 14, 2021, Alimatou Shadiya Assouman, Benin's Minister of Industry and Trade and also Chairwoman of the board of directors of the Yaounde-based African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), signed a decision suspending Denis Loukou Bohoussou, Director General of this pan-African organization.

To justify the suspension of Denis Loukou Bohoussou (photo), the text put forward his refusal to enforce a decision calling for the audit of OAPI’s management after mismanagement and financial malpractices suspicions were raised “endangering the interests of the organization.” 

In a letter sent on October 8, 2021, to the Chairwoman of the OAPI’s board, the director-general was accused of investing billions into an untrustworthy bank “unknown in the OAPI’s financial environment. 

According to Cameroonian media Essingan, which followed the case closely, the director-general is also accused of corruption, embezzlement, and various misconducts. The same source informs that Denis Loukou Bohoussou is yet to present the car registration document of a XAF17 million car he acquired for his trips nationwide. He is also asked to explain why he paid a total of  XAF15 million as a bonus for the governance of the OAPI administrative boards in Ndjamena and Lome in 2018 and 2019 respectively. In addition, M. Loukou Bohoussou is accused of not complying with OAPI laws by recruiting staff whose age exceed 55-years, the maximum prescribed by the organization. Also, the director-general is accused of having instated a climate of fear in the organization. 

According to sources close to the OAPI, the scandal rocking the organization for weeks now could end with a complete management change. So, the suspension of the director-general could just be the first episode of that change. 

BRM