Let me begin by indicating how impressed I am by the response of Cameroonians to the President’s laptop gifts to university students. Cameroonians are not at all impressed with the gift. The reasons given for the condemnation of the gifts are astonishingly impressive. Biya is hereof referring to as a scammer and conman

CON PRESIDENT
A couple of years ago, former Italian billionaire PM, Silvio Berlusconi was found guilty of illegally transferring huge sums of money abroad using his offshore business. Biya’s laptop deal is similar to Berlusconi’s film buying deal.

How did Berlusconi do it?

Berlusconi created a company in the Bahamas. In Italy Berlusconi has three TV channels (RETE 4, Italia 1 and Canale 5) managed by a consortium called Mediaset. All of these channels show films, including American films. Mediaset is responsible for buying the films for the three channels. Let’s say Pretty Woman or Independence
Day from Warner Bros costs $1 million. Instead of Mediaset Italia to buy these films at the cost of $1 million, to be shown on Berlusconi’s Italian TV channels, Berlusconi would decide to buy the same films from his Bahamas’ company for $10 million. Berlusconi Bahamas’ company would actually buy the films for $1 million. Instead of sending the films to Italy, Mediaset would pretend that they are buying the films for $10 dollars from Bahamas. These are films that normally cost $1 million.

So, why would Berlusconi Italian Mediaset not buy the films for $1 million dollars directly from Warner Bros? Why would he allow his Bahamas offshore company to buy the films directly from Warner Bros for $1 million dollars and resell the very film to Mediaset for $10 million?

This is where the scamming takes place. Buying from his Bahamas’ company is a means of transferring millions of Euros abroad (offshore) from Italy. Mind you that Berlusconi would not buy the same films from Warner Bros for $10 million or for $1 million. If he does, the money will go to Warner Bros. Afterall, the $10 million is not going to another company but will still remain in Berlusconi’s foreign account. It’s a way of hiding money (tax avoidance). When Berlusconi travels to the Bahamas, he goes there and uses the $10 million he had transferred into his account via a fake sale of films, films that he could have bought for $1 million. It’s like some form of money laundry.

How is this similar to what our President is doing?

In my opinion, the President wants to steal our money. He wants to transfer billions of fcfa of our money abroad for his personal use. He does not create an account in his name. Clever thief. He decides to connive with the Chinese (tiff people). He offers them silly contract (the supply of low-quality laptops at an exorbitant price to Cameroon university students). The Cameroon government will pay for the laptops that probably cost fcfa 45.000 since he is buying on large scale. The Chinese guys will sign invoice of fcfa 250.000 per unit. The President would then pocket the difference. We actually do not know the actual price of a single laptop. Some people say its fcfa 250.000. Some say its fcfa 150.000. If we assume that there are 500.000 university students in Cameroon and a single computer cost fcfa 150.000, then the President may take home the sum of circa cfs 75 billion frs (considering that the factory price of the laptop is 45.000 frs). The President probably has a stake in this deal. He is to me, a scammer. He is a conman.

Why are they not telling us the mark of the laptop and the specifications of those notebooks so that we can tell them exactly how much money they are stealing from us?

By Callit Fjg

For BaretaNews.