Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o and the Colonel Ghislain Joël Mboutou affair opens today in Yaounde 0

Investigations have opened today in Yaoundé, against Lieutenant Colonel Ghislain Joël Mboutou, military attaché at the Cameroon embassy in Morocco, for alleged money laundering in France, misappropriation and corruption which Cameroon Concord News sources say could pave the way for a case against Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, former Minister of Defense and current boss of the Ministry of Transport.

According to our informant, the military hierarchy, set up and dispatched to Morocco, a commission which brought back to Cameroon, Ghislain Joël Mboutou. Colonel Mboutou was picked up at the Yaounde Nsimalen international airport and rushed to the national gendarmerie headquarters to be auditioned today. The defense attaché at the Cameroonian representation in Morocco was arrested by French intelligence agents as he was trying to finalize a real estate transaction in Paris.

The senior officer was arrested in possession of 700,000 Euros in cash (more than 455 million FCFA) and a search of his home in Paris, raised the amount to 1.3 million Euros. He reportedly told French intelligence officers that the money was intended for the acquisition of real estate. He was released on bail mindful of the diplomatic passport in his keeping.

We recently spoke to someone in Minister Alain Mebe Ngo’o’s entourage who hinted that the affair was mounted from scratch and was only manipulation and storytelling.  However, a journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report revealed that Colonel Mboutou Ghislain Joël, worked for 7 years as deputy head of the military secretariat when Minister Mebe Ngo’o  was the powerful Minister of Defense.

Minister Mebe Ngo’o  has been regularly presented as a nephew of the President of the Republic. The Transport Minister’s political future now depends on statements that Colonel Mboutou will make today. The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime for 34 years has been rocked by multiples of scandals in a country where more than 20 million people live below UN poverty line.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana