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C O N F I D E N T I A L YAOUNDE 000855 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO FOR AF/C, CA/VO/L/C AND INL/C 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2018 
TAGS: KCOR KCVM EMIN CVIS CM
SUBJECT: VISAS DONKEY: CELESTIN NDONGA CORRUPTION 212(F) 
SAO REQUEST 
 
REF: A. 07 YAOUNDE 1428 
     ¶B. 09/05/08 BROWN EMAIL TO INL/C BECKER 
     ¶C. KOHN AND LEVENTHAL 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1.  (U)  This cable contains an action request for the 
Department.  See paragraph 14. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Summary.  Celestin Ndonga is a public servant whose 
influence--exclusively negative--far exceeds his official 
positions and whose corrupt acts have damaged an American 
company and dealt setbacks to USG interests in Cameroon's 
economic development.  As a Technical Advisor in Cameroon's 
Ministry of Mines, Ndonga solicited bribes from an American 
company and, when refused, sought to torpedo the project in 
favor of competing interests to whom Ndonga is financially 
attached.  In his current role as the General Manager of 
Cameroon's Electricity Development Corporation (EDC), Ndonga 
continues to interfere in the development of mining projects 
outside of his official competence.  Without the public 
profile of a Cabinet official, Ndonga thrives in the murky 
labyrinth of Cameroon's economic machinery, using official 
cover to divert public contracts toward favored companies and 
to pressure investors into paying bribes disguised in 
official-sounding language.  End summary. 
 
===================== 
Ndonga's Corrupt Acts 
===================== 
 
¶3.  (C)  Although we have received reports of Ndonga's 
malfeasance across a wide range of activities and from a 
broad spectrum of sources, Post has strong evidence that 
Ndonga has: 
 
--solicited a bribe from an American mining project in 
Cameroon; 
 
--sought to use his official capacity for personal gain. 
 
======================== 
Solicitation of Bribes 
======================== 
 
¶4.  (C)  In the midst of negotiations with the Government of 
Cameroon (GRC) regarding the terms of a mining convention, 
officials from Hydromine, an American-led mining project (ref 
a), confided to Emboffs that they believed Ndonga was seeking 
to derail their project in favor of competing interests. 
Ndonga was at the time Technical Advisor to the Minister of 
Mines.  In late 2007, an official from Hydromine provided 
Poloff with a copy of a letter (copy sent ref b) purporting 
to show that Ndonga had solicited a bribe from Hydromine in 
order to "facilitate" the negotiation of Hydromine's 
convention.  The letter, which appears on the letterhead of 
the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development 
(MINIMDT), is signed by Ndonga.  The letter indicates that 
Hydromine should pay 50,000,000 CFA (roughly $100,000) to pay 
for "expert assistant to elaborate the convention." 
 
¶5.  (C)  Hydromine officials told Emboffs that they perceived 
the letter as a poorly disguised bribe attempt and refused to 
pay.  Why, they wondered, should Hydromine be asked to pay in 
order for GRC officials to simply discharge their 
responsibilities?  Hydromine's Cameroonian representative 
told Poloff in late August that he had sought the advice of 
Jean Paul Nkounchou Somo, Charge de Mission at the 
Presidency, who told him that Hydromine should "pay Ndonga" 
if Hydromine wanted to obtain the convention.  The Hydromine 
official said he understood this to indicate that Ndonga had 
promised to share the proceeds of the bribe with other senior 
officials. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Poloff met with Dr. Calistus Fuh Gentry, the 
Secretary of State (a cabinet-level position) at MINIMDT on 
September 5 to understand whether Ndonga's request was 
consisten with GRC regulations.  (Note: Fuh is well known to 
the Embassy as a rare instance of a clean and effective GRC 
minister.  Fuh has received rave reviews from American, 
British and Australian mining experts with whom we have 
spoken.  End note.)  Fuh reviewed the letter with MINIMDT's 
Inspector General and the two presented their conclusions to 
Poloff, confiding that they had already been aware of 
Ndonga's activities.  According to Fuh, Ndonga's letter was 
"a complete scam" that had no basis in Cameroon's laws or 
regulations. 
 
¶7.  (C)  The Inspector General told Poloff that the services 
for which Ndonga purported to charge Hydromine were supposed 
to be provided as part of the MINIMDT's normal duties.  In 
 
fact, he continued, he himself had chaired the meeting that 
carried out the work that Ndonga was claiming to conduct. 
The committee met over many days and compiled a detailed 
analysis of Hydromine's proposal.  The committee--which 
included more than 20 experts from across the GRC--conducted 
its work at no charge to Hydromine.  Fuh closed the 
conversation by remarking: "Corruption in Africa has become 
more sophisticated.  Now corrupt officials dress up their 
bribes with official-sounding reasons on official-looking 
documents." 
 
¶8. (C)  Officials from Sundance Resources, an Australian iron 
ore project, told Poloff that Ndonga had made a similar 
request for a "facilitation" payment from them.  Feeling 
uncomfortable with the request (which they perceived as 
inappropriate), Sundance officials initially pushed back, but 
finally agreed to a payment of about $600,000 to a "task 
force" established by the Prime Minister's office that, they 
say, was structured in such a way so as to comply with 
Australian and American corruption regulations.  Nonetheless, 
one Sundance official expressed discomfort with the deal, 
arguing that, although it was technically legal, he had no 
doubt that the funds are being used to line the pockets of 
Ndonga, members of the "task force" and GRC and their 
friends, hired as consultants. 
 
========================================= 
Using Official Capacity for Personal Gain 
========================================= 
 
¶9.  (C)  Post has received a series of allegations that 
Ndonga has used his official position--first at MINIMDT and 
now also at EDC--to steer business towards companies in which 
he has a personal stake.  A Hydromine official said Ndonga 
pressured Hydromine to hire his "consultancy" companies 
although it was evident that their alleged services provided 
no value. 
 
¶10.  (C)  Prior to assuming the title of Technical Advisor, 
Ndonga was the Director of Industry at MINIMDT for fifteen 
years.  According to press reports and Hydromine officials, 
Ndonga used his position to direct a 2002 MINIMDT contract 
for the creation of an Investment Charter to the Premium 
Consultancy Agency, a company that founded and run by Ndonga 
himself. 
 
============================ 
Damage to American Interests 
============================ 
 
¶11.  (C)  Ndonga's corrupt activity has damaged American 
commercial interests and had a negative impact on Cameroon's 
economic development, a primary USG objective in Cameroon. 
The AMCIT CEO of Hydromine told Poloff that Ndonga's corrupt 
activity had dealt substantial setbacks to Hydromine's $6 
billion project in terms of time and money.  According to 
Hydromine and Embassy sources in the Ministry of Mines, 
Ndonga received and distributed bribes from Hydromine's 
competitors meant to derail the Hydromine project.  Hydromine 
believes that Ndonga funded and arranged for a flurry of news 
articles that sought to sully the Hydromine project shortly 
after Hydromine refused to pay Ndonga. 
 
¶12.  (C)  Ndonga's meddling has delayed several multi-billion 
dollar projects.  In addition to the Hydromine project, 
Ndonga's position as the chair of the committee negotiating 
Sundance's mining convention has complicated their efforts to 
finalize a deal.  Sundance officials have expressed 
frustration at the negotiations and Ndonga's insistence on 
"facilitation" payments.  Ndonga's continued interference in 
these mining projects is particularly baffling because he 
already has a full-time job, as the General Manager of the 
Electricity Development Corporation (EDC), a parastatal 
created to manage the construction of the Lom Pangar Dam and 
other hydro-electric projects.  Officials from the American 
company AES have complained to Poloff about Ndonga's role as 
the head of EDC, saying that Ndonga has no experience in the 
power sector.  AES contacts claim Ndonga sought only to 
protect the interests of ALUCAM, the Rio Tinto-owned aluminum 
plant with whom he has been closely aligned since his tenure 
at MINIMDT. 
 
¶13.  (C)  Comment.  Ndonga's letter soliciting a bribe from 
Hydromine is a smoking gun, but his crimes are more extensive 
than that simple act of corruption.  Playing a central role 
in three of Cameroon's most important development projects, 
Ndonga has put his corrupt personal interests above his 
official responsibilities.  His ability to don the cloak of 
officialdom--official-sounding documents and a series of 
custom made positions--makes his corruption all the more 
pernicious.  American and other investors looking to help 
 
Cameroon's economic development are easily fooled into 
thinking their engagements with Ndonga are legitimate. 
Ndonga and his cronies pocket the proceeds, foreign investors 
become mired in confusing bureaucratic games and the 
Cameroonian people are left holding the bill--in the form of 
an underdeveloped and a stagnating economy.  End comment. 
 
======================== 
Impact of a 212f Finding 
======================== 
 
¶14.  (C)  Post believes that a finding of ineligibility under 
212f will have a positive impact on U.S. interests in 
Cameroon.  Such a decision will show that the USG is serious 
about applying American law to corrupt Cameroonian officials. 
 If the decision becomes public, it will serve to weaken 
Ndonga's position in the GRC and private sector, likely 
leading to his total marginalization.  Ndonga's rise has been 
meteoric recently, largely due to his willingness to use his 
official position to steward the business interests of Rio 
Tinto-owned ALUCAM.  This decision will slow and likely 
derail his ascent. 
 
¶15.  (C)  Action request.  Post requests that Washington find 
Celestin Ndonga ineligible to enter the U.S. under Section 
212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act because his 
corrupt acts have had a substantial negative impact on 
significant US interests in Cameroon.  End action request. 
 
==================== 
Ndonga's Application 
==================== 
 
¶16.  (SBU)  Ndonga applied on August 26 for a B1/B2 visa to 
visit the US to conduct business on behalf of EDC.  The 
application was refused 221(g) for administrative processing. 
 At the time of application, Ndonga was accompanied by an 
official from EDC, who was issued a visa.  Ndonga has 
previously held a B1/B2 visa issued on March 6, 2001, which 
expired on September 5, 2001. 
GARVEY