Crypto King’ Sam Bankman-Fried jailed for 25 years
Sam Bankman-Fried – also known as SBF – has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX
After a two hour hearing the judge, Lewis Kaplan, said Bankman-Fried knew what he was doing was criminal and regretted making a bad bet about the likelihood of being caught
“There are a lot of mistakes that I made,” Bankman-Fried told the court, but maintained FTX had the ability to repay customers when it imploded
Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried took more than $10bn (£7.9bn) from unsuspecting customers in “one of the biggest financial frauds” in US history
FTX was valued at $32bn before it went bankrupt in 2022 and SBF crafted a public image that drew in celebrities, politicians and business titans.
Source: BBC
MTN Cameroon sees record growth with CFA325.7bn revenue in 2023
MTN Cameroon reported a robust revenue of CFA325.7 billion for 2023. According to data released on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa, this figure marks a 10.9% increase from 2022, showcasing a notable acceleration in growth and performance.
Analysis by Business in Cameroon reveals that revenues rose by 8.7% in 2022, 2.2% less than last year. MTN Cameroon’s revenue substantially outpaced the CFA312.9 billion reported by its main competitor, Orange Cameroon, highlighting the company’s dominant market position. A significant driver behind this growth has been internet connection services, which accounted for nearly 38.4% of total revenues. For the first time, these services have overtaken direct call services as the leading contributor to MTN’s revenue in Cameroon.
The company also saw significant strides in its fintech services, including credit lending, which surged by nearly 44.5% to reach CFA57.5 billion, based on the conversion rate at the end of the financial year. This is a sharp increase from the 10.2% growth in 2022.
Data and fintech services combined have formed 52.13% of MTN Cameroon’s total income, up from 51.4% in 2022, 47% in 2021, and 40.6% in 2020. By the end of December 2023, MTN boasted a record 5.8 million active internet subscribers and 5.6 million active Mobile Money users in Cameroon, marking the highest levels in five years. The average revenue per user in Cameroon reached a new high of CFA2542.02 in 2023.
Amidst this positive trajectory, MTN declared a pre-tax and depreciation profit of CFA123 billion in Cameroon, constituting 37.8% of its revenue, the best margin recorded since 2019. However, despite these favorable outcomes, challenges persist. The internet market faces ongoing consumer grievances regarding service quality across all providers. Furthermore, the South African company is currently embroiled in legal proceedings where its bank accounts were frozen due to a dispute involving Baba Danpullo’s holding company, Bestinver, and its South African banker, First National Bank (FNB), a subsidiary of FirstRand Bank (FRB), one of MTN’s shareholders.
Source: Business in Cameroon
Spanish World Cup kiss: Prosecutors seek 2.5-year jail term for Luis Rubiales
Spanish prosecutors want the ex-head of the country’s football federation to be jailed for two-and-a-half years, after he kissed a female footballer against her will at Spain’s World Cup victory.
Luis Rubiales is facing charges of sexual assault and coercion after he grabbed Jenni Hermoso and kissed her on the mouth last August.
Ms Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning.
Mr Rubiales was forced to resign, but has denied any wrongdoing.
According to a court document seen by Reuters, prosecutor Marta Durantez charged Mr Rubiales with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion for his alleged actions in the aftermath of the kiss. The charges carry prison terms of one year and 18 months respectively.
Ms Durantez also accused the former coach of the women’s national team, Jorge Vilda, the team’s current sporting director, Albert Luque, and the federation’s head of marketing, Ruben Rivera, of coercing Ms Hermoso into saying the kiss was consensual.
The indictment said they harassed her through “constant and repeated acts of pressure”, including through her friends and family.
All three denied wrongdoing when they appeared before the court. Each could face up to 18 months in jail if convicted.
Ms Durantez also wants the four men to pay damages totalling €100,000 (£85,677; $108,000) to Ms Hermoso, and for Mr Rubiales to pay at least half of this amount.
She also requested a restraining order for Mr Rubiales, barring him from coming within 200 metres (656 feet) of Ms Hermoso and from communicating with her for the next seven-and-a-half years.
The scandal overshadowed a historic moment for Spain’s women’s team, which at the time was celebrating its first ever World Cup win.
During the trophy presentation ceremony, Mr Rubiales clasped Ms Hermoso’s head between his hands and planted a kiss on her lips.
Source: BBC
US: Joe Lieberman, former vice presidential candidate, dies at 82
Former US Senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman has died at 82.
The cause was complications from a fall, according to a family statement obtained by CBS News, The BBC’s US partner.
The centrist represented the state of Connecticut in the Senate for nearly a quarter of a century.
Mr Lieberman became the first Jewish person to join a major party US presidential ticket in 2000 when Al Gore selected him as his running mate.
Source: BBC
Yaoundé: Cabinet Reshuffle is in the Offing!
As news of a coup d’état in Cameroon spreads across the country, a source at the Unity Palace has informed the Cameroon Concord News Group that a cabinet reshuffle is on the horizon as members of the president’s inner circle start strategizing on how to grant the ailing and collapsing Biya a massive victory in the 2025 presidential election.
The source, which elected anonymity, said there was panic in Yaoundé, especially after the coup d’état in Gabon which led to the ousting of former president, Ali Bongo, who had been hit by a massive stroke, leaving him paralyzed on one side of his body.
Following the coup d’état in Gabon, Mr. Biya has shaken up the military twice, taking possible suspects from strategic positions and dumping them in the periphery where they have little or no influence.
“The fear of a possible coup could be read on many faces in Mr. Biya’s circle. The president and his men do not have confidence in any of the military generals, most of whom have connections with the French and American forces,” our source at the Presidency said.
“The coup carried out by President Olingi in Gabon has struck fear in many minds in Cameroon. There is no trust between civilians and the military right now. The president is thinking of increasing the salaries of our soldiers as a way of calming down the military which seems to be harkening calls for a military take-over in Yaoundé,” the source added.
“Some news organizations are already suggesting that a coup d’état could be cheaper than the so-called democratic elections where millions of dollars are wasted, people killed, ballots printed and the same unpopular person is returned to power by crooks,” the source stressed.
“The purpose of the upcoming cabinet reshuffle is to take out unpopular ministers like Atanga Nji, the territorial administration minister, who is more of a liability than an asset to the President and the country. Others like Victor Mengot Arrey and Paul Tasong who actually have no portfolio and are not loved by their people are clearly on their way out. There are also rumors that the Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, might not go beyond 2025. He will be promptly replaced by a more popular Anglophone after the presidential poll and a list of possible candidates has already been established. The President is looking at South westerners and North westerners who are working at the international level as he plans to contract massive loans which will help in the country’s reconstruction after the poll,” the government insider said.
“The ruling party’s current concern is to win hearts and minds in the Northwest and Southwest regions where the population is anti-CPDM due to the conflict in those two English-speaking regions where more than ten thousand Cameroonians have lost their lives in a conflict which could have been avoided. In the coming months, supporters of the government will carry out provocative actions in those two regions to reignite the fighting, thereby causing separatists’ forces to become active as a means of rigging elections. We hope Ambazonian fighters will be smart enough not to fall into the trap. A peaceful northwest and southwest will definitely hand a huge victory to the opposition and this will be a huge blow to the government’s game plan,” our source pointed out.
“Though the Biya government is very unpopular across the country, many ruling party supporters are counting on a massive rigging machinery which the government is already designing and deploying. Ruling party stalwarts are all trembling and it is that fear which is pushing them into urging the desperately ill Biya to run again in 2025,” he added.
“Cameroonians are really counting on the military. The country is in a total mess. Only a coup d’état can help to bring back some sanity to our country. Corruption is rife, and the looting of state resources is taking place openly. There is nobody in charge in Yaoundé and many people want to amass more resources before any clean-up operations begin. I pray the military heeds the people’s call,” our source concluded.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Editor-in-Chief and Group Chairman
Yaoundé: Martinez Zogo trial opened, adjourned
The trial for the killing of a popular Cameroonian journalist opened on Monday with 17 people in the dock, including an ex-secret service chief, but was immediately adjourned until April 15.
The badly-mutilated body of reporter Arsene Salomon Mbani Zogo, known as “Martinez”, was found a few days after he was abducted in front of a police station outside the capital Yaoundé on January 17 last year.
The 50-year-old ardent anti-corruption and anti-cronyism campaigner had often singled out government officials by name, earning the ire of powerful figures.
Those on trial at Yaounde Military Court include Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, the then-director of Cameroon’s powerful military intelligence service, his head of operations Justin Danwe, and members of a military commando accused of Zogo’s kidnap, torture and murder.
Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a wealthy businessman believed to be close to ministers and officers in the Central African nation, is also amongst the accused.
All are accused of either actively taking part in or complicity in Zogo’s kidnap, torture and murder.
The killing caused an outcry in the country, which has been ruled with an iron fist for more four decades by President Paul Biya, 91.
The defendants showed no signs of any emotion during a three-hour hearing as the charges against them were read out.
The lawyers were then invited to present their initial observations by Colonel Jacques Misse Njone, presiding the session, before he adjourned the case to next month “to respond to all the observations and communicate the lists of witnesses”.
Calvin Job, the Zogo family’s lawyer, complained that “the civil parties have never been asked to participate in the investigation”.
“This is unacceptable. To date, I have not had access to the file,” he added.
The court commissioner promised to rectify that and make the file available.
Source: AFP
CPDM supporters want Cameroon’s four-decade President, 91, to run again
Supporters are urging the world’s oldest leader, 91-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, to run for office in the 2025 presidential election, potentially extending his more than four-decade rule.
They say Biya is the only one who can bring peace and development to the country, but the opposition says Biya must leave office after running Cameroon for decades.
Several hundred people sang in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Sunday, calling for Biya to accept the nomination of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, or CPDM party, in the 2025 presidential election.
Biya created the CPDM on March 24, 1985, three years after his predecessor, Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, stepped down due to ill health and handed power to Biya.
Biya has been president of Cameroon since 1982 and leader of his party since 1985.
During the party’s 39th anniversary on Sunday, party officials organized rallies in all Cameroon towns and villages to ask people to support Biya as their candidate in the 2025 elections.
Senior CPDM official Fru Jonathan described Biya as the party’s natural candidate, saying there is peace, unity and economic growth in the country. Jonathan said Biya is strong and healthy.
“We think that you don’t change a winning team,” Jonathan said. “If there is any challenger, let him come up, but we have not seen any challenger who can beat our candidate, so we all rely on him and call on him to continue to rule and bring our country to emergence as that is his vision.”
Biya has not said if he will be a candidate.
Cameroon senior state functionaries appointed by Biya, along with Biya’s party officials, credit the long-serving leader for constructing at least 6,000 kilometers of roads, providing electricity and water to towns and villages, and building several hundred classrooms and hospitals.
But Cameron’s opposition and civil society disagree with that positive assessment, saying under Biya the Cameroon Bank and the Fund for Agricultural Development created to fund farmers’ projects crumbled.
The opposition also says corruption has become widespread during Biya’s rule, with Transparency International ranking Cameroon as the most corrupt country in 1998 and 1999.
Cabral Libii, 44, an opposition parliamentarian with Cameroon’s Party for National Reconciliation, or PCRN, placed third in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential elections.
Libii said Cameroonian youth will not continue to watch Biya cripple the economy, deprive civilians of their liberties and freedoms, and rule Cameroon with an iron fist while now showing signs of being ruler for life.
He said Biya is the cause of sorrows brought about by extremely high unemployment, underemployment and crises in the English-speaking western regions that have claimed more than 6,000 lives.
Libii said Cameroon opposition and civil society are organizing themselves to present a candidate to oust Biya, whom they describe as elderly and frail to the point he is hardly seen in public.
Libii said Cameroon needs young dynamic leaders to salvage the country from underdevelopment.
Opponents said many youths were hired to take part in rallies to give the false impression that Biya is popular.
Both the government and Biya’s CPDM party officials deny that civilians, especially poor youth, were hired.
At 91, Biya is the oldest leader in the world and the second-longest-serving president after his neighbor, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.
Biya’s party says he has won all presidential elections since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990, but the opposition says previous elections have been marred by fraud.
Source: VOA
Biya’s Replacement: A Coup d’Etat is cheaper
As usual, there is news all over Cameroon on the possible replacement of Paul Biya, the country’s longest serving president in 2025. Mr. Biya has misruled the country for 42 years and he is slowly but surely yielding to the passage of time. Mr. Biya, who was considered by many in 1982 as a better option to the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, is really running out of steam. His mine is failing him at a pace never seen before and this has become a huge concern for his entourage, especially those who have engaged in acts of impropriety and serious misconduct.
To the ordinary Cameroonian, Biya has become a millstone around his neck as suggested by a CPDM official. Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News, a key CPDM militant who elected anonymity said that “Biya has failed himself and Cameroonians and he is aware of his own catastrophic failure. When his mind gets reset by the strong drugs and steroids recommended by his Swiss doctors, he resorts to blaming everybody except himself for the excruciating pain he has inflicted on Cameroonians. Biya is like our own Holy Ghost, unfortunately with an ironic twist. The Holy Ghost in the Bible is noted for its positivity, but Mr. Biya’s presence among Cameroonians is huge symbol of negativity. Where two or three Cameroonians are gathered, Biya is with them and they are always talking about him. The disaster which Mr. Biya and his henchmen have unleashed on Cameroon will linger for a very long time.”
“I have been hearing all this noise about replacing Biya through elections. Cameroon will never change through an election. The system is mined and if Cameroonians are looking forward to elections as the only way of changing things, then they are in for a tough disappointment. Cameroon is ripe for a coup d’etat and a coup will be less expensive compared to a fake election. A so-called election will require huge amounts of money. Many people will die before, during and after the election as the government is already strategizing on the type of terror it will unleash on the population during and after the election. There are many plans under way to exclude opposition voters and, as usual, after the results get published by the Constitutional Council, troops will be deployed and a state of emergency will be declared,” the CPDM stalwart lamented.
“A coup d’etat is cheaper! If we take a look at what has happened in Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Burkina and Niger, it is clearly emerging that a coup d’etat is the best option for Cameroon. In the other countries, there was no bloodshed. No money was spent on arms and ammunition. But a so-called democratic election in Cameroon will imply that billions will be poured into a flawed process, innocent lives will be destroyed, military resources will be wasted to intimidate the population as well as the political opposition, and the country’s infrastructure will be destroyed in the process. If Cameroon’s military is patriotic, it can help the country by putting an end to this nightmare which has already lasted 42 years. Biya is a real pain in our side,” the miserable CPDM supporter wept.
“I cannot speak up and out because I have already eaten, drunk and danced with the devil. The CPDM is like a cult. When you join them, you will never leave. Any attempt to leave will be met with all the intrigues and violence which will make your life and that of your family miserable. Biya has taken the country down a dark and treacherous path and our fear even within the party is that after him, the country would be enveloped in a thick cloud of violence. There are so many skeletons in Mr. Biya’s cupboard and that is why he wants to die in power. His dishonest collaborators know that and they have already been bought over. They are all willing to sink with the dying Biya because they know Cameroonians will never forgive them. The military will find it very easy to overthrow Mr. Biya whose grip on power is already loosening,” he added.
“Within the party, there are huge concerns about the future. Most party stalwarts are very sick. Marcel Niat just as Biya himself is a colony of diseases. Niat too is losing his mind. An enlarged prostrate triggering incontinence is keeping him permanently in diapers while Cavaye is staging his one-man show at the National Assembly. He has reduced the place to a drinking parlor, with his office drawers containing some of the most intoxicating liquors. On a normal day, Cavaye can down two huge bottles of liquor and that is just for the day as he will still drink more at home before going to bed. It is as if the taxpayer is paying him to slowly kill himself. Cavaye really wants to give the country a bad name. Many fear he might one day die in his office due to alcohol intoxication,” our source said.
“For now, the Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, is just looking for an exit strategy. He is sick and tired of all the games which have set the country back by at least a century. He cannot wait to leave. In his mind, everything in Cameroon is simply a pretty mess. Nothing is working. The country cannot boost of any good roads. The country’s railway system has collapsed while the national airlines is sinking further and further into bankruptcy. The young people within the corridors of power are working hard for the mess to continue so that they can continue to rob the country blind. Many of them have their family members in schools abroad. They are looking forward to completing their fees before Biya gets kicked out. The increasing noise about a coup or a strong opposition coalition is unsettling to them and it is keeping them awake all night,” our source concluded.
Meanwhile the country’s opposition is taking steps to weave a strong coalition. Last week, Professor Titus Edzoa, a former minister under Biya, was in Europe to garner more support for the opposition project and the project is gaining traction with the country’s Diaspora supporting any and every effort which will see off the country’s president.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Editor-in-Chief and Group Chairman
Senegal’s ruling coalition presidential hopeful recognises opposition Faye’s victory
Senegal’s governing coalition candidate Amadou Ba on Monday recognised a win by anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye in the first-round of presidential elections and offered his congratulations, a statement said
“Considering the trends of the presidential election results and awaiting the official declaration, I congratulate the president Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye on his victory in the first round,” Ba said in the statement.
The concession came a day after Senegal’s presidential election Sunday, which followed months of uncertainty and unrest that tested the West African nation’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region rife with coups.
This is Senegal’s fourth democratic transfer of power since gaining independence from France more than six decades ago. It took place one month later than initially scheduled after President Macky Sall tried to delay it until the end of the year. Sall is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term and is expected to step down on April 2 when his mandate ends.
After the polls closed Sunday, voters praised the peaceful outcome amid concerns after months of deadly protests ignited last summer by the jailing of the popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and concerns that the president wanted to stay in power. Rights groups said dozens were killed, while hundreds more were jailed.
In a move that defused tensions just ahead of the election, Sonko was released after months in prison along with Faye, to jubilant celebrations on the streets of Dakar. Sonko was barred from the race in January due to a prior conviction and Faye ran in his place.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
Race For Etoudi: Cameroon Concord Editorial Chair endorses Professor Titus Edzoa
It is becoming clear that there is a massive power vacuum in Cameroon as the country’s ailing leaders are incapable of making sound economic and political decisions which can help steer the country out of the mess for which the country is now noted.
Though the country’s Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, has, out of fear, banned all activities aimed at building coalitions against the crumbling Biya government, there are still huge efforts underway both in Cameroon and abroad to engineer a solid coalition which will successfully oust Mr. Biya and his corrupt CPDM party from power once and for all.
It is gradually emerging that a massive coalition is being built around Professor Titus Edzoa, who is currently in Europe to discuss various political possibilities which would lead to the building of a coalition.
The Chairman and Editor-In-Chief of the Cameroon Concord Group has welcome the news of growing support for Professor Titus Edzoa to head a three-year transition program beginning 2025 in an inclusive government.
Speaking on Saturday in London during an event organized for Cameroon’s Diaspora and in which Biya’s succession was on the agenda, the Concord Chairman said:
“All progressive forces both in French- and English-speaking Cameroon should place their support behind Professor Titus Edzoa, as he gets himself ready to head a new Cameroon Government next year. This is an important step at a crucial moment for our divided nation.”
Chairman Soter Agbaw-Ebai added that Professor Titus Edzoa, if given the mandate, will act in the national interest of a federated Cameroon.
“Cameroon is badly in need of a smooth transition of power and many around the world believe Prof. Titus Edzoa will contribute to the quick formation of a unified and inclusive government which can address the serious security, humanitarian and political challenges facing Cameroon,” Agbaw-Ebai said.
“Professor Edzoa can be assured he has Cameroon Concord News full commitment to working with an inclusive Cameroon government formed with all blocs including the detained leaders of the Ambazonia Interim Government” Agbaw-Ebai concluded.
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