Financial delinquency: Daniel Ona Ondo soon before the Cemac courts

2023-11-22 09:56:42

DIG/ This is a damning report which will certainly deal a blow to Gabon’s image on the sub-regional scene.

According to information from our colleague Young Africathe Performances firm audited the governance of the last administration and uncovered poor management of the resources of the institution headed by the former president of Cemac, the Gabonese Daniel Ona Ondo.

The facts noted should trigger legal action, under the aegis of the economy ministers of the zone.

The firm thus notes a considerable increase in certain expenditure items in 2022, as well as in the first half of the current year. Hotel costs increased nine-fold and vehicle rentals increased ten-fold, while purchases of office supplies tripled compared to previous years.

Performances also observes an inconsiderate use of advance funds, for nearly 7 billion CFA francs (10.7 million euros) between 2020 and 2023, in defiance of the financial regulationsr.

This mechanism has caused all kinds of abuses, including unjustified expenses which amount at more than 8 billion CFA francs.

False invoices

They correspond to invoices paid several times or to others, counterfeit or fictitious. Among the latter, the “Domero Hôtel Bangui” invoice – managed by Joseph Désiré Ondo Ngoua, the former administrative and financial director (DAF) of the commission, and also brother of Daniel Ona Ondo – was used for the rental for five days of thirty suites.

Verification made by the auditor: the said establishment simply does not exist, and no hotel in the Central African capital has ever contained so many suites.

On another aspect, Daniel Ona Ondo is also pinned in the document about the release, at the end of 2022, of 21 vehicles from the commission’s fleet.

This on its sole decision, without call for tenders or minutes. The former president of the commission, his former chief of staff, as well as the former vice-president, three of the four commissioners, as well as the representative of Gabon, the DAF and people not working within the institution, acquired the machines at prices unrelated to their condition and value, notes the report.

In detail, Joëlle Rebecca Zoua Ona – the daughter of Daniel Ona Ondo – paid 2 million F CFA for a Toyota Fortuner, purchased for 30 million F CFA two years earlier. The financial controller and the chief of staff each acquired a Toyota Corolla worth 13.5 million F CFA in 2020 for 2 million CFA francs.

The report also reveals that 4.4 billion CFA francs in “exceptional bonuses and other miscellaneous compensation” were distributed between November 2, 2022, the date of the official end of the government’s mandate, and June 6, the date of the handover of services. «

Of which 92%, or 4,152,864,170 CFA francs distributed between the president, members of his family working at the commission, those responsible for the financial chain and control/audit,” mentions the document that Jeune Afrique consulted.

Family expenses

Other irregularities are observed. For example, on December 15, 2022, the Gabonese orders the provision of 35 million CFA francs for the benefit of his daughter for expenses relating to the management of the president’s office during the end-of-year vacation period. Part of the envelope used to organize a “private event in Libreville”.

The purchase invoice for wines, champagnes and chocolates shows 10 million CFA francs, while one of the two caterer invoices amounts to more than 16 million CFA francs, reveals the report.

The abuses also concern certain service providers, whose auditor is proposing to the commission to claim more than 1.4 billion CFA francs paid without deliveries and without services provided. Among them, the Gabonese Société Africaine du Batiment (SABA), responsible for the renovation of the headquarters in Bangui, which will have to repay more than 640 million CFA francs, or the Cameroonian & Belgium Group BTP (CB Group BTP), taking care of the works and equipment of the villas of the Cemac city in the Central African capital, from which more than 656 million CFA francs are required.

(Source: Jeune Afrique)

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