Local media scrutinise remarks caught on camera by heads of state embroiled in a French corruption investigation
DAKAR (TrustLaw) - A video in which the presidents of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Senegal react to an investigation by a French court on alleged embezzlement of state funds by Cameroon’s head of state is making waves on the web, the Senegalese newspaper L'AS reports.
In the video, Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade is heard commending Paul Biya of Cameroon for his government’s reaction to media reports about the investigation by the French court, while the Cameroon head of state blames African opposition groups of inventing stories and taking African leaders to foreign courts, the paper said.
Local and international media reported last month that a French court opened a preliminary investigation into a complaint for embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds filed against Biya by an association of Cameroon expatriates in France and Belgium known as UDA.
“They can’t prove that I have a hidden fortune or I don’t know what. But what I don’t find normal is the media conniving with them, manipulating public opinion,” Biya says in the clip posted on French international TV channel France 24, with a transcription in English.
The video was initially posted on the website of the Cameroon presidency following Biya’s visit to Libya to attend the Africa-EU summit but was quickly re-edited to mask the audio, L’AS newspaper said.
Media in Cameroon have since scrutinised the nuances of Biya’s diction when he says “They can’t prove that I have a hidden fortune” instead of emphatically saying “I haven’t a fortune”, the Senegalese paper reported.
In November, France's highest court reopened the way for an investigation into assets held in France by African presidents including Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Republic and the late president of Gabon, Omar Mbongo Ondimba whose son, Ali Bongo Ondimba, succeeded him last year.
The video can also be seen on YouTube:
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