Former minister, Bernard Messengue Avom accused of fraud

Bernard Messengue Avom former Minister of Public Works may be the next Cameroonian big name to be sent to jail. Messengue who some reports suggest was supposed to appear in front of the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde yesterday had long been indicted by the National Anti-corruption Commission.

Cameroon Concord gathered the anti-corruption uncovered what could have passed as the biggest ever single fraud in the country’s history.

In a report which the Ministry of Public Works and the Prime Minister’s Office would very much have loved to keep secret, Minister Messengue and his compatriots at the Ministry of Public Works in connivance with the Prime Minister’s Office attempted to con government into paying double for road construction projects that had already been completed and paid for.

The road projects involved in the attempted fraud were partially financed by the Kuwait Economic Development Fund, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and the public investment budget of Cameroon. The misappropriated public funds were estimated to the tune of 15.4 billion FCFA which the Special Criminal Court now wants Bernard Messengue Avom to answer.