After nearly two decades behind bars, Emmanuel Gerald Ondo Ndong, former Director-General of the Special Fund for Equipment and Intercommunal Intervention (Feicom), was released on Saturday, February 21, 2026. His release from prison, which according to some sources occurred in a festive atmosphere, ends a long detention related to a case of embezzlement of public funds estimated at nearly 30 billion FCFA.
Convicted as part of Operation Sparrowhawk, a vast anti-corruption operation launched in 2006, Ondo Ndong had been incarcerated at the State Secretariat for Defense (SED) in Yaoundé. His release coincides with that of Gilles Roger Belinga, former Director-General of the Cameroon Real Estate Company (SIC), who was also convicted as part of this operation. This simultaneity has raised questions about the real impact of Operation Sparrowhawk, which aimed to combat corruption at the highest levels of the state.
In his first public statement after his release, Ondo Ndong stated: "Whether it is the president or the justice system; they did not initiate my imprisonment, they executed God's decision". These words suggest a personal interpretation of his incarceration, which he considers a test stemming from divine will.
Operation Sparrowhawk, launched under pressure from international donors, led to the arrest and conviction of several former ministers and heads of public companies. While some see it as a genuine desire to fight corruption, others believe that it has been used for political purposes. The release of Ondo Ndong and Belinga therefore reignites the debate on the effectiveness and impartiality of this operation, as well as its real impact on the culture of transparency in Cameroon.
The release of Emmanuel Gerald Ondo Ndong, after serving a sentence of nearly 20 years, marks an important milestone in Cameroon's judicial history and raises persistent questions about the fight against corruption in the country.
