The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Having before it the case of Mr. Dieudonné Ambassa Zang, a member of the National Assembly of Cameroon, which has been studied and reported on by the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians pursuant to the Procedure for the treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of communications concerning violations of the human rights of members of parliament,

Also having before it the Committee’s report on its on-site mission of 24 to 27 May 2011, which also includes the observations of the authorities (CL/190/12(b)-R.2), and taking into account the information provided by the Cameroonian delegation at the hearing held during the 126th IPU Assembly (April 2012) and in the letter from the Secretary General of the National Assembly, dated 29 March 2012,

Also taking into account the information regularly provided by the source in the case,

Considering the following:

• Mr. Ambassa Zang, Minister of Public Works from August 2002 to December 2004 and known, according to the source, for having fought corruption within that ministry, was elected in 2007 on the ticket of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Rally; 

• On 14 July 2009, the Bureau of the National Assembly met to examine a request to lift Mr. Ambassa Zang’s parliamentary immunity filed by the Minister of Justice; the grounds advanced for the request were misappropriation of public funds managed by Mr. Ambassa Zang when he was Minister of Public Works; the Bureau postponed consideration of the request, its members taking the view that the matter had to be thoroughly examined before they could rule on it; on 7 August 2009, the Bureau, meeting in extraordinary session, lifted Mr. Ambassa Zang’s parliamentary immunity; although Mr. Ambassa Zang left Cameroon on 12 July 2009, he had a defence note sent on 3 August 2009 to all members of the Bureau; there is no indication that the note was included in the file before the Bureau;

• The authorities have stated that the accusations against Mr. Ambassa Zang stem from an audit prompted by a complaint by the French Development Agency (AFD), the funding source for the renovation of the Wouri Bridge, for which Mr. Ambassa Zang had been responsible; according to the Prosecutor General, State companies, ministries and other State structures managing public funds are subject to annual audits by the Supreme State Audit Office (CONSUPE), which reviews the State’s management; the Minister of Justice has linked the audit of Mr. Ambassa Zang’s management with the fight against corruption initiated by the Cameroonian State in 2005;

• According to the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of CONSUPE, the final audit report was submitted to the Head of State, who opted for criminal proceedings on account of the misuse of public funds and the need, highlighted by the international community, to put public finances on a sound footing; the file had therefore been referred to the Minister of Justice; a new, thorough examination had been carried out of the accounts and, after the lifting of Mr. Ambassa Zang’s parliamentary immunity, the file had been handed over to the Prosecutor General of the Court of Appeal; the case was at the preliminary investigation stage;

• The source affirms that the provisions of Article 11 of Law No. 74/18 of 5 December 1974 on control of authorized officials, administrators and managers in charge of overseeing public expenditure and State enterprises, as amended and finalized in 1976, were not respected; it stresses that the accusations should have been dealt with by the Budgetary and Financial Discipline Council and that Law No. 14 was intended to protect the managers of public funds insofar as Articles 10 and 12 thereof set out guarantees relating, inter alia, to procedure, the right to a defence and appeal mechanisms; it highlights in this respect that, in cases handled by the Council, the accused have the possibility to be represented, in their absence, by counsel, unlike in criminal proceedings;

• According to the source, Mr. Ambassa Zang has replied with defence memoranda to each of the accusations, which he has rejected as unfounded; the few CONSUPE documents that Mr. Ambassa Zang has been able to obtain point to no wrongdoing or misappropriation in his favour of any sum whatsoever; the source affirms that the acts of which Mr. Ambassa Zang is accused can be seen at worst as mismanagement of public funds and in no way amount to an offence; he was not apprised of the final audit report drawn up; the mission report refers in this respect more extensively to the non-contradictory nature of the audits and inspections; moreover, it is clear that at least one new accusation was apparently introduced into the file submitted to the judicial authorities but not raised in the request for information originally addressed to him;

• The source affirms that Mr. Ambassa Zang cannot at present return to Cameroon because he would be arrested as a fugitive without ever having been sentenced or called to account, and that his safety is no longer guaranteed in Cameroon,

Considering that Mr. Ambassa Zang’s common-law wife was attacked soon after the mission departed; in a message addressed to Mr. Ambassa Zang, the perpetrators vaunted their crime with an explicit reference to the IPU mission, whose action concerning the parliamentarian was known only to a limited circle of senior officials; noting that, in his letter of 9 August 2011, the Minister of Justice states that he has ordered an enquiry into the matter,

Considering that, according to an article published on 16 September 2011 in the Cameroonian daily Le Jour and in a number of other media, a new investigation has been opened into Mr. Ambassa Zang concerning the manner in which contracts were awarded for laying asphalt on the bridge over the Moungo river in 2004 (the first bridge over this river bordering the coastal and south-west regions having collapsed), that Mr. Ambassa Zang exercised his right of reply, underscoring inter alia that the urgent measures needed in order to find a speedy solution to the problem of the collapsed bridge were decided by an interministerial committee presided over by the Prime Minister on the orders of the President of the Republic and that the contract for maintenance of the detour roads was formalized and signed by the Minister for Economic Affairs, who guaranteed that they would be paid out of his ministry’s budget for special State works,

Considering that, according to the source, the prosecution of Mr. Ambassa Zang must be seen in the context of "Opération Épervier" (Operation Casting Net), which has been widely criticized as a campaign originally intended to combat corruption and misappropriation of public funds but instead used to purge critically-minded public figures who, like Mr. Ambassa Zang, expressed views not always in line with those of their party; thus the Vice-President of the National Assembly, in a statement to the press as he left a meeting of the Assembly’s Bureau on 14 July 2009, reportedly expressed surprise at how fast the investigation of Mr. Ambassa Zang’s case had been completed and described the lifting of his parliamentary immunity as a settlement of scores; also recalling the concerns expressed by human rights agencies, in particular the United Nations Human Rights Committee, on the independence of the judiciary in Cameroon,

Bearing in mind that Cameroon is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is thus bound to respect the fundamental rights therein guaranteed, such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to individual freedom and security, and the right to a fair trial ensuring the rights of the defence,

1. Thanks the Cameroon parliamentary authorities for the extensive information supplied in the course of the examination of this case, in particular on the occasion of the on-site mission; appreciates the measures taken by the parliamentary authorities to reimburse in full Mr. Ambassa Zang’s allocations for micro projects for 2010 and to pay his parliamentary allowances; invites the authorities nevertheless to inform Mr. Ambassa Zang of what the sums paid actually correspond to;

2. Has serious misgivings about the way in which Mr. Ambassa Zang’s parliamentary immunity was lifted and he was officially consulted, and about the existence of a genuinely adversarial investigation; points out that these concerns are spelt out in the mission report, the conclusions of which it fully endorses; 

3. Is appalled to learn that Mr. Ambassa Zang’s common-law wife was attacked shortly after the mission left in what appears to be an unacceptable act of reprisal and intimidation that only serves to reinforce the mission’s overall conclusions; affirms that the authorities have a duty to prosecute the perpetrators and prevent any other act of intimidation against Mr. Ambassa Zang’s relatives; wishes to know what progress has been made in the investigation initiated by the Minister of Justice;

4. Stresses that the authorities have chosen to start criminal proceedings, which, unlike the procedure before the Budgetary and Financial Discipline Council, do not allow the accused to be represented by a lawyer in their absence; fears that this was done precisely with a view to arguing that the case cannot proceed unless Mr. Ambassa Zang presents himself to the judicial authorities in Cameroon; notes in this regard that Mr. Ambassa Zang has provided extensive replies to the accusations known to him and is willing to provide additional information should that be necessary;

5. Shares in this respect the observations and fears expressed by the mission in Chapter D, paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 5 of its report, particularly the provisions concerning the real prospects for the equitable and objective treatment of this case should Mr. Ambassa Zang return to Cameroon; considers that the information published in the media about a new investigation would tend to justify those fears;

6. Urges the competent authorities to do everything in their power to facilitate a satisfactory settlement of the case either by referring it to the Budgetary and Financial Discipline Council and thereby enabling Mr. Ambassa Zang’s representative to defend his client, or by dropping the accusations;

7. Invites the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the competent executive, judicial and parliamentary authorities, including the President of Cameroon;

8. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report to it at its next session, to be held during the 127th IPU Assembly (October 2012).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 126th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 910 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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