Business
African public officials are among the high-ranking figures to find their names in the leaked Panama Papers. Kofi Annan's son Kojo and a nephew of South Africa's President Zuma are among those listed in the disclosures.
The law firm Mossack Fonseca in Panama sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. It’s not illegal to own such a company or shares, but they can be used to cover up deals that could be illegal. Research by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and a German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung has uncovered trade deals between Mossack Fonseca and several African public officials.
Clive Khulubuse Zuma - nephew of South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma
South Africa's President Jacob is currently battling parliamentary impeachment proceedings following corruption allegations including the Nkandla and Gupta Family scandal. The Panama Papers could provides the Zuma's opponents with fresh ammunition in theri bid to oust him. The documents link President Zuma in an oil mining deal between a British Virgin Islands-based oil company Caprikat Limited and Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to the documents, Zuma helped Caprikat to secure oil fields in the DRC and ordered his nephew to head the firm's operations in the country.
Kalpana Rawal - Deputy Chief Justice of Kenya
Kalpana Rawal, Kenya's deputy Chief Justice was implicated in several business deals linked to two companies based in British Virgin Islands. Rawal and her husband were directors of the companies prior to her appointment as deputy chief justice. The documents revealed Rawal's involvement in real estate in the United Kingdom through offshore companies. Rawal has not stated if she had declared any of her investments to Kenya's judicial service commission. Kenya's constitution bars public servants from owning a bank account outside the country.
John Addo Kufour – son of Ghana's former President John Agyekum Kufour
Ghana's former President John Agyekum Kufour 's eldest son, John Addo Kufour, was also mentioned in the revelations. During President Kufour's first term, the son and his mother allegedly controlled a bank account in Panama worth $75,000 (66,000 euros). They appointed the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, to manage the fund which was called The Excel 2000 Trust. Local media in Ghana had reported allegations that the younger Kufour gained lucrative government contracts and private sector business deals through his father. But an official commission later found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Mamadie Toure - widow of Guinea's late President Lansana Conte
Mamadie Toure, widow of Guinea's late president, Lansana Conte, was allegedly granted the power of attorney to Matinda Partners and Co Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company, in November 2006. Authorities in the US claimed that Toure received $5.3 million to help a mining company win a mining concession from President Conte shortly before he died in 2008.
Mounir Majadi - personal secretary to Morocco's King Muhammed VI
Mounir Majadi, personal secretary to Morocco's King Muhammed VI, allegedly purchased a luxury 1930s schooner “Aquarius W” in 2005 on behalf of SMCD Limited, a British Virgin Islands firm. After the purchase, the vessel was registered in Morocco and renamed “El Boughaz I.” It is now owned by King Mohammed VI.
Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos - Angola's oil minister
Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos is Angola's oil minister. Oil is the southern African country's main export. He also held the portfolio for energy and water. Prior to the Panama files, de Vasconcelos had never been linked to any corruption allegations. According to the Panama Papers, he was secretly ran a company based in the South Pacific. The company was worth $1 million, according to his own statements. The company was disbanded in 2009.
Ian Kirby – head of Botswana’s court of appeal
Ian Kirby began his career as a tax specialist and has been the head of the Court of Appeal, the highest court in Botswana, since 2010. According to research by ICIJ, Kirby had shares in seven offshore shell companies based in the British Virgin Islands. The purpose for which these companies existed is unknown, but Kirby told ICIJ that he and his wife had invested only the required minimum contribution in the company and want to use them for investment purposes. Due to the economic crisis they had lost a large part of the money.
Jaynet Desiree Kabila Kyungu – twin sister of President Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo
She is considered one of the most influential people around President Joseph Kabila. Jaynet Desiree Kabila Kyungu has been sitting in Democratic Republic of Congo's parliament since 2012. She also has a media company. The Panama Papers revealed that Kyungu together with a Congolese businessman were co-heads of an offshore company based in the South Pacific. The company is said to have shares in one of the largest mobile operators in the DR Congo.
Kojo Annan – son of Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations
Kojo Annan purchased an apartment in London for $500,000 in 2013, according to the ICIJ's Panama Papers, through an offshore company headquartered in South Pacific nation of Samoa. He is also registered as a director of two other companies, based in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. His company acted according to applicable laws and purposes, according to Kojo Annan's lawyer. Kojo's father, Kofi Annan, was Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) between 1997 and 2006. During this period, the UN placed an order under the oil-for-food program to a Swiss company for which Kojo Annan worked. Allegations of corruption and nepotism were made, but an independent investigation found no proof.
Reactions in Africa
Mouhamadou Mbodj, coordinator of the "Forum civil" and Transparency International in Senegal, said he was not surprised by the Panama Papers' revelations. In a DW interview, Mbodj said money disappearing through tax havens was exactly the reason why African countries lacked better social policies. "This probably can be explained by the absence of these funds and that's also the reason why so many people emigrate to Europe," Mbodj said.
(DW)
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- Rita Akana
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One of Africa’s most remarkable and upbeat entrepreneurship programme, the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme for the 2016 year have been launched. The Lagos, Nigeria, based Africa global entrepreneur flagship Foundation announced through a press release dated 22 March 2016 the 2nd round of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP). The nearly two years old, 2015-2016, big-hearted programme with a ten years life span and $100 million commitment is the largest Africa based continental philanthropic initiative devoted to entrepreneurship.
The top plight to identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs, create a million jobs and add $10 billion in revenues to Africa’s economy limelight’s the programme into an incomparable global economic context. In all, over 45,000 entrepreneurs from 54 African countries applied, more than doubling the number of applications received in 2015. Modern standards of industrial class highly dominated the respective fields of applications by candidates, led by agriculture, ICT and fashion.
The highest numbers of applicants came from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon. All five regions – North, East, Southern, Central and West Africa are represented. Going by the Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, CON: “In TEEP’s first year we spent over $8 million of our $100 million commitment – with $5 million going directly to entrepreneurs as seed capital — and the results have far exceeded our expectations. We have funded entrepreneurs, established networks and helped extraordinary people take control of their destinies. The 2016 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs will become a generation of newly empowered African business owners, who are the clearest evidence yet, that indigenous business growth will drive Africa’s economic and social transformation.”
The 2016 cohort of the Entrepreneurship programme will over the next nine months receive the intensive online training; networking and mentoring that provide a tool kit for success and sustainability. They will also participate in the three-day Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum later in the year, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurial talent.Parminder Vir OBE, CEO of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, observed: “We saw phenomenal success with the first cycle of TEEP –the success stories of the TEEP 2015alumni are a testament to the transformative power of the programme we have built. Through TEEP, we are proving to the next generation of entrepreneurs that their ideas can change their communities, their countries and their continent.”
The final list of the selected candidates has been published and the next stage is due soon. For any further information on the full list of the selected candidates visit www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/teep
Knowing The Tony Elumelu Foundation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is an Africa-based, African-funded philanthropic organisation. Founded in 2010, TEF is committed to driving African economic growth, by empowering African entrepreneurship. The Foundation aims to create lasting solutions that contribute positively to Africa’s social and economic transformation. Through impact investments, selective grant making, and policy development, it seeks to influence the operating environment so that entrepreneurship in Africa can flourish.www.tonyelumelufoundation.org@tonyelumeluFDN
About The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme
The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme represents a decade- long commitment to supporting African start-ups and entrepreneurs. We are committing $100 million to help launch an initial 10,000 entrepreneurs throughout Africa over the next 10 years, creating 1,000,000 new jobs contributing to $10 billion in revenue across Africa.www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/TEEP
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- Cham Victor Bama in Buea
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Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, Cameroon's Minister of Transport has just suspended all operations and agreements earlier signed between the Cameroon government and Fly Caminter airlines company following Cameroon Concord’s report on the issue. In a statement read over state radio and television late yesterday, Minister Mebo Ngo’o noted "The Minister of Transport informs national and international opinion that the activities of the AQUA 2C airline, which intends to operate under the trade name" FLY CAMINTER "are suspended as of March 24, 2016 for non-compliance with regulations ".
Cameroon Concord Intelligence Unit reported that the airline "Fly Caminter" had failed woefully in Gabon and Congo-Kinshasa. We also revealed that claims of 51% controlled by a Cameroonian businessman were untrue. The airline has a mafia boss who has never operated a bank account in any of the African countries hosting his business. The pilots and crew are paid via offshore accounts. Fly Caminter's coming to Cameroon had been initiated by a highly placed government official at the presidency of the republic.
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- Rita Akana in Yaounde
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Cameroon’s national carrier, Camair-Co has announced its maiden internal flight to Bafoussam in the West region of the country beginning April 15. The announcement was made some few days after a new airlines company, Fly Caminter said it was launching operations in Cameroon. Paul Sandjo Nana, the general manager of Camair-Co recently revealed that with the reopening of the Douala International airport, the two MA60 aircraft acquired from the Chinese will return was to service between Douala and Yaounde, and perform two rotations every day.
Sandjo Nana observed that the planes now have four trained crews which has provided Camair-Co the opportunity to launch the Bafoussam route in April 15, Ngaoundere on the 22nd of April and finally Malabo including other cities of the sub-region from April 30th. Camair-Co is anticipating a tough competition following the arrival of Fly CamInter which is part of a French consortium, Group Regourd Aviation. Cameroon Concord gathered that CamInter was supposed to begin domestic services on Sunday the 27th of March.However, at the time of filing this report, CamInter has still not taken off.
Interestingly, it was the manager of the Nsimalen International Airport who issued a public statement claiming CamInter flights have been postponed to a later date. The nation’s national daily, Cameroon Tribune reported Fly CamInter is 51% owned by a “private Cameroonian citizen”, and it got its Air Operator's Certificate from the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority on August 2014 and its fleet currently consists of a Dornier 228-212, an ERJ 145 and an ATR 72.
The cancellation of CamInter flights has been blamed on some sets of administrative issues and some insiders say the company will go operational within the next ten days. Specialized in private flights, Fly CamInter proposes for a start to serve the cities of Yaounde, Douala, Garoua and Maroua, before expanding its wings to other localities, depending on the density of applications and availability of airports.
Correspondingly, some very disturbing news filtered to our intelligence unit that CamInter is the creation of some highly placed Cameroon government officials both in the Ministry of Transport and at the Presidency of the Republic. We are keeping an eye on this latest development and we will keep our readers posted as we get enough details of CPDM personalities concern.
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- Ebong Peter and Sama Ernest
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The Cameroonian Cotton Development Firm (SODECOTON), which is in dire financial straits, has resorted to acquiring for the sixth consecutive year a syndicated loan of CFA 30 billion from five local banks for its recovery, reliable sources claimed on Sunday.This amount was out of an estimated CFA 75 billion required to cover the 2015-16 farming season, according to the sources.
The loan, which could be increased to CFA 40 billion, now makes it compulsory for the company to apply other strategies to meet its obligations, not only with an estimated 225,000 producers, but also impact suppliers and others in the production chain.
Since 2010, SODECOTON, which was abandoned by its traditional donors, has been using other funding facilities to sort out liquidity problems usually attributed to export delays in its shipments of white fiber.
In early 2015, it obtained CFA 36.5 billion from the same banks, depending on export contracts with traders on the international market.
Apart from fluctuating world prices, the company, which exports 80
percent of its produce, must also fight the fraudulent sale of cotton filaments to neighbouring Nigeria by producers who have nevertheless benefited from financial support.
SODECOTON, whose 2014-2015 production reached 295,000 tons, signifying an increase of 74,000 tons compared to the previous year, has for the past three years been conducting studies for the introduction of genetically modified seeds in the north of Cameroon, where it employs 11,000 people, with the ambition of increasing the production of fiber and seeds.
Set up in 1974, its capital of approximately CFA 23.6 billion is 59 percent owned by the Cameroonian government, 30 percent by French firm Geocoton and 11 percent by Cameroon’s Movable Investment Corporation (SMIC).
(AFP)
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- Elangwe Pauline
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The Ambassador noted this in Douala, during a dinner with Nigeria’s contingent at the Navy in Cameroon.
Concerning the bilateral ties between the two countries, the diplomat refuted the allegations of hostilities against Nigerians in Cameroon.
She noted that the relationship between both countries has improved significantly since the conclusion of the rivalry over the Bakassi Peninsula.
According to her, the over four million Nigerians in Cameroon are hardworking in business most especially in the car, spare parts and electronics.
Satisfied with the participation of the Nigerian contingent in her show of military might, the diplomat noted that apart from showcasing its military potency, the ship has promoted maritime diplomacy.
In her words Hadidza Moustapha said it nice to see a Nigerian ship in harbour of a foreign country flying high its flag.
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- Elangwe Pauline
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