On February 26, 2026, the Caisse de Dépôts et de Consignations (CDEC) issued payment orders to BGFIBank Cameroon and Orange Money Cameroon, claiming 3.68 billion FCFA, including 3.58 billion as principal and 101 million as late payment interest. These interests are considered penalties related to a late payment. The CDEC grants them eight days to comply, failing which it reserves the right to seize their bank assets, shares, securities, movable property and movable effects.
This action follows sums due "under the solidarity of payment with Afriland First Bank," which had provided guarantees for a public contract awarded to BOFAS Sarl in 2022. This contract concerned the rehabilitation of the Babajou–Bamenda road, section 3 Bamenda Up-Hill Station Bypass (4.93 km), in the North-West region. The State had paid an advance of more than 2.8 billion FCFA to BOFAS, secured by a restitution guarantee from Afriland First Bank. The bank had pledged to pay any sum due up to 2.864 billion FCFA. BOFAS had also provided a personal and joint guarantee of 1.4 billion FCFA, also issued by Afriland, bringing the total guarantee to approximately 4.265 billion FCFA, provisioned for 900 million FCFA.
On February 26, 2024, the Minister of Public Works, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, terminated BOFAS's contract for the company's failure. The contract, awarded by mutual agreement for 14.32 billion FCFA over 15 months, had not achieved its objectives. After the termination, the guarantees were to be mobilized to repay the advance and cover the damage suffered by the State. However, the company and Afriland were slow to return the guarantee, leading to the intervention of the CDEC for forced recovery.
The CDEC justifies its action by the 2023 law on guarantees and the recovery of debts by public entities, which grants the State a priority rank for the recovery of certain debts. Article 49 of this law stipulates that depositaries, holders or debtors of sums belonging to debtors guaranteed by the privilege of the Treasury must pay the funds at the request of the State. Article 17 specifies that any refusal to execute a third party notice entails joint and several payment by the third party holder.
The CDEC considers that the amounts claimed correspond to Afriland funds held at BGFIBank and Orange Money, targeted as "third party holders". Failure to execute the payment orders would expose them to solidarity, as they would have held Afriland funds related to the execution guarantees of the contract.
Afriland First Bank filed an interlocutory action against Orange Money Cameroon and BGFIBank, with SCB Cameroon called in as a forced intervention, to stop the effects of the third party notice (ATD) issued by the CDEC. The referee judge declared himself incompetent, but Afriland filed a request for defense to execution. The CDEC continued its operations, relying on Article 43 of the law on the privilege of the Treasury, which stipulates that "the seizure is executed notwithstanding opposition". SCB, after paying a deposit equivalent to 10% of the amounts concerned, had its procedure suspended. BOFAS challenged the termination of its contract before the administrative judge, who ordered the suspension of any mobilization of the guarantee by the Ministry of Public Works. The CDEC considers that this suspension is not opposable to it.
The CDEC interprets the 2023 law as a more operational recovery mechanism in the event of non-compliance with guarantee commitments in public contracts. The seized third parties could be held jointly and severally liable in the event of forced execution in the event of non-compliance with legal obligations. The CDEC was created in 2008 and has been operational since 2023, with the mission of receiving, preserving and managing public and private sums and assets. It aims to centralize designated funds and play a central role in modernizing the Cameroonian economy.
