Cameroon's ex-defense minister gets 30 years in jail for corruption

​​​​​​​DOUALA, Cameroon

A court in Cameroon on Thursday sentenced a former defense minister to 30 years in prison for embezzling more than $38 million.

Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, jailed since 2019, was convicted by the Special Criminal Court on four counts: embezzlement of public funds, aggravated money laundering, over-invoicing of contracts, and corruption.

His wife, Bernadette, was also found guilty of embezzling around $8 million and handed a 10-year prison sentence.

The court ordered the seizure of the couple’s assets, including 53 buildings, 21 bank accounts, 39 vehicles, and more than $500,000 in cash.

The ex-minister’s close associate Col. Elie Mboutou and Maxime Leonard Mbangue, a former Treasury inspector and adviser to the Defense Ministry, were found guilty of embezzling around $26 million and $1 million, respectively.

Both were sentenced to 25 years in prison each.

Another co-accused Victor Menye, the former deputy general manager of the SCB bank, was acquitted of corruption charges, but found guilty of complicity in money laundering and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Ngo’o and his wife have denied any wrongdoing and their lawyer said they will appeal the verdicts in the Supreme Court.