Cameroon’s Debt Recovery Corporation (SRC) accumulated significant cash balances without transferring them to the public Treasury, breaching public finance rules, the country’s Audit Chamber said in its latest report covering the 2018–2022 period.
The report states that SRC does not systematically remit recovered funds to the Treasury, highlighting weaknesses in the management of public resources.
As of December 31, 2022, SRC held CFA14.121 billion corresponding to amounts recovered under agreements with the Ministry of Finance or from completed liquidations that had not been paid to the state. An additional CFA107.127 million from financial penalties was also retained, depriving designated beneficiaries and, above all, the state of additional revenue.
The Audit Chamber describes these practices as violations of Law No. 2018/012 of July 11, 2018, which governs the financial regime of the state and other public entities. Article 87 provides that any public official, representative, administrator, or agent of an entity subject to audit oversight may be sanctioned for mismanagement. Article 88, paragraph 2, specifies that mismanagement includes acts that cause harm to the state or a public entity through conduct incompatible with public interest, serious control failures, or repeated omissions or negligence.
In SRC’s case, the failure to remit funds is presented as a mismanagement fault with direct budgetary consequences. The Audit Chamber notes that these resources could have helped reduce the state’s reliance on market borrowing to finance its needs. To correct the situation, it proposes that the first transfer to the Treasury amount to CFA12.6 billion.
The Audit Chamber also recommends that the Ministry of Finance revise remittance arrangements, including specifying the minimum amount to be provisioned and the initial transfer to be made by each entity. It states that 70 % of recovered amounts, from both ordinary mandates and financial penalties, must be transferred to the Treasury or other state entities within no more than 12 months. These measures are deemed necessary to strengthen transparency, compliance, and efficiency in public fund management.
Against this backdrop, the report underscores the urgency of reforming the remittance mechanism and strengthening oversight of SRC.
Amina Malloum
