He reportedly sneaked into his former office and was destroying sensitive documents
By Christopher Ambe
Charles
Metouck, dismissed as General Manager of Cameroon’s Oil Refinery Company (SONARA) last Friday
after the company’s Board of Directors meeting
in Limbe, was last Monday arrested and since then has been in detention at the
Buea Judicial Police.
 |
| Mr.Charles Metouck |
He is being detained alongside six of his former
collaborators.
Mr.
Metouck who was GM of SONARA since 2002 until last Friday was replaced by
Ibrahim Talba Malla. Until his appointment, Ibrahim Talba Mala was the General
Manager of the Hydrocarbons Price Stabilization Fund (CSPH)
Why Charles Metouck Was
Arrested
He
was arrested because last Monday he “sneaked” into his former office without
his successor Mr. Talba Malla and was spotted destroying sensitive documents,
apparently to do away with evidence that could later implicate him in
wrongdoing.
He
was arrested on the instruction of the Procureur-General (Attorney-General) of
the Southwest Region, along six others and detained for questioning. They were
expected to be brought before state prosecutors yesterday but this did not
happen.
The
Counsel for Metouck has expressed surprise at the arrest, noting that his client
had access into his former SONARA office based on a written authorization from
John Ebong Ngole, Chairman of SONARA Board of Directors and Talba Malla, the
new GM.
According
to Mr.Metouck’s lawyer, the agreement was to enable the dismissed GM prepare
some documents for a technical handing over to the new GM.
But
Mr. Ebong Ngolle and Mr. Talba Malla are yet to confirm that they gave the
dismissed GM the green light into his former office
The
suspicion is heightened by the fact that Mr. Talba Malla got commissioned into
his new office the very Friday the Board appointed. And he was installed by the
minister in charge and installation is usually done after technical handing over.
As
at now Mr. Metouck is being accused of attempting to do away with sensitive
documents and transfer funds.
Before
Mr. Metouck’s dismissal, there were allegations of shady deals at SONARA.
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