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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 250851Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4327
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000403 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EIND ETRD KCOR KJUS PGOV IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: COCOA SECTOR OFFICIALS ARRESTED AS 
PART OF ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Twenty-three top officials of the 
cocoa/coffee sector were indicted on June 13 on charges of 
embezzlement, breach of trust, misuse of corporate assets, 
fraud, and forgery.  As of June 23, 12 of the 23 were under 
arrest.  Those arrested include close associates of the 
ruling FPI party.  The arrests are part of an anti-corruption 
campaign that President Gbagbo promised last year and which 
few expected would yield significant results.  Speculation as 
to whether the current campaign is motivated in part by 
political factors is rife, but regardless of the motivation 
the arrests represent the first concrete action taken by the 
Gbagbo regime in many years to stem corruption.  End Summary. 
 
RESULTS OF A LONG AWAITED INQUIRY ANNOUNCED 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) Cote d'Ivoire's chief prosecutor, Raymond Tchimou, 
held a press conference June 13 to announce the results of a 
months long investigation, conducted at the request of 
President Gbagbo, into mismanagement of cocoa funds and 
corruption in the cocoa sector.  Tchimou named 23 individuals 
whose activities were suspicious enough to warrant 
indictment.  The names were passed on to a senior 
investigating judge (Doyen des Juges d'Instruction), whose 
responsibility it is to interview each individual and 
determine whether prosecution is warranted.  Interviews of 
the 23 began on June 17. 
 
¶3. (U) The first arrests were carried out on June 18 when 
Henri Kassi Amouzou, Chairman of the Development and 
Promotion Fund of Coffee and Cocoa Producers, was taken into 
custody along with Theophile Kouassi, Executive Secretary of 
the Development and Promotion Fund of Coffee and Cocoa 
Producers, and Obogui Rosine Amena, Financial Director of the 
same organization.  Lucien Tape Do, Chairman of the Coffee 
and Cocoa Exchange, Kassi Kadio Tanoh, Director General of 
the Exchange, and Viviane Mensah, Financial Director of the 
Exchange, were arrested on June 19.  On June 20, Angeline 
Kili, Chairperson of the Cocoa Financial Regulatory Body, was 
arrested along with Firmin Kouakou, Director General of the 
Financial Regulatory Body, and Sophie Bolou Dago, Financial 
Administrator of the Financial Regulatory Body.  On June 23, 
Lambert Toh Digbeu, former Financial Director of the 
Development and Promotion Fund of Coffee and Cocoa Producers, 
Saraka Koffi Souanga of private company SIMATP, and Alfred 
Sokouri Gnako, Financial Director of the Loan Guarantee Fund 
of Cocoa/Coffee Cooperatives, were also arrested.  More 
arrests could be made; no trial date(s) has been set for 
those in custody. 
 
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND 
--------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) In October 2007, President Gbagbo ordered an 
investigation into the cocoa/coffee sector after allegations 
of embezzlement surfaced publicly.  Cocoa officials then 
began to point fingers at each other in the media. 
Investigations in Cote d'Ivoire and the U.S., including the 
2003 purchase of the Fulton cocoa factory in New York from 
Nestle by the Cocoa Financial Regulatory Body, revealed 
irregularities in budgets, over billing, payment of 
exorbitant salaries and benefits, conversion of loans into 
subsidies, non-functioning of some firms acquired by the 
cocoa regulatory bodies, and the non-payment of dividends. 
Because a number of the officials involved had close ties to 
powerful FPI figures, such as FPI President Affi N'Guessan, 
there was skepticism about the government's willingness to 
take action.  The inclusion of Lucien Tapeh Do, a frequent 
visitor to the Presidency, and that of Angeline Kili, one of 
N'Guessan's proteges, among the arrestees is viewed as a 
demonstration, however, of the government's seriousness in 
this particular anti-corruption campaign. 
 
¶5. (U) These arrests will not, however, resolve many of the 
problems that are now inherent to the cocoa sector.  In 2000, 
the Government of Cote d'Ivoire began the liberalization of 
the cocoa/coffee sector in order to end a guaranteed price 
system controlled by the state-run cocoa marketing board, 
Caistab, and replace Caistab with independent cocoa industry 
regulatory bodies.  However, the bad management of these 
entities has recurrently caused disruptive strikes and 
protests by farmers.  Foreign donors have denounced the lack 
of transparency and poor governance in the cocoa sector. 
President Gbagbo established a reform commission in 2004 to 
address these problems, but the commission's report, 
submitted to the President in 2005, was never made public. 
The fact that the government has now taken action to address 
the mismanagement and corruption in the cocoa sector may, 
 
ABIDJAN 00000403  002 OF 002 
 
 
however, be a sign that they are prepared to make significant 
changes. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment. The embezzlement trial may pave the way for 
long-delayed reform of the Ivorian cocoa sector and serve as 
a deterrent to corruption.  There is great speculation about 
the political motivatY|NQwCqvQd Comment. 
NESBITT