COTONOU: Sadiatou used to be a well-off trader of traditional cloth at the market in Benin’s economic hub of Cotonou, but now sells school equipment from the doorstep of her home.
In 2010 she sank more than 5 million CFA francs ($8,700) into an investment scheme that promised a quick profit.
“It’s a deposit I should never have made,” she told AFP. “My business took a hit and my health as well. I’ve been depressed for a long time.
“I was counting on the savings I’d make to expand my business. But it was useless. All my money has gone.”
Seven years after what was described as the biggest financial scandal in Benin’s history was revealed, 20 people this week went on trial.
Sadiatou is one of nearly 150,000 people that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates were defrauded of more than 150 billion CFA francs in the Investment Consultancy and Computing Services (ICC Services) case.
Some estimates, however, say as many as 300,000 people were lured into parting with their hard-earned or borrowed cash and life-savings on the promise of 150 to 200 percent per quarter returns.
Despite repeated warnings about investing in so-called pyramid or Ponzi schemes, such scams are becoming commonplace throughout Africa.
Frank Engelsman, who heads the Amsterdam- and Paris-based Ultrascan, which specializes in detecting international financial fraud, says such schemes are booming.
“First, because the infrastructure in big cities of Africa is improving rapidly, both phone as well as Internet infrastructure — and that’s what these fraudsters need.
“Second, because in those cities... police are not trained to handle Internet international communication crimes that always cross a border between the fraudster and the victim.”
In Gabon, a business run by a Pentecostal church pastor, Yves David Mapakou, allegedly swindled up to 30,000 French and Gabonese clients by promising profits on investments.
A complaint was lodged in Paris in August last year.
Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria remains the undisputed champion of fraud, having assiduously developed “419” scams over the years — a reference to the relevant section of the criminal code.
Victims from around the world have been duped into handing over billions of dollars through a barrage of unsolicited e-mail appeals and job offers as well as promises of marriage.
Engelsman said this type of fraud has “spread from Nigeria to neighboring countries” in West Africa, taking advantage of the lack of capacity of law enforcement agencies to investigate.
“Like most bad things like crime, they tend to spread when not put to a halt, widen their scope to improve effect/income.” he added.
Development can even play a part.
“It’s easier when the infrastructure is good, in countries where also the chamber of commerce is registering companies easily and bank accounts are opened, based on one or more registrations,” he added.
The Ponzi scheme in Benin — likened to the one run by Bernie Madoff in the US that saw the financier jailed — involved paying initial investors with the money of new clients.
Textile worker Aline Aklassato said she had “no reason at all not to believe” the scheme would not work.
“Colleagues and friends had made deposits and received dividends,” she added.
“I got dividends myself for two months of 300,000 CFA francs before the difficulties started.”
Benin, a Ponzi scheme and a long wait for answers
Benin, a Ponzi scheme and a long wait for answers
China overturns death sentence for Canadian in drug case
TORONTO: China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official told AFP Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing.
Schellenberg’s lawyer Zhang Dongshuo, reached by AFP over the phone in Beijing on Saturday, confirmed the decision was announced Friday by China’s highest court.
Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.
That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory.
Then, in January 2019, a court in northeast China retried Schellenberg, who was 36 at the time, sentencing him to death while declaring that his 15?year prison term for drug trafficking had been too lenient.
The court said he had been a central player in a scheme to ship narcotics to Australia, in a one-day retrial that Amnesty International called “a flagrant violation of international law.”
Schellenberg has denied wrongdoing.
The Canadian official requested anonymity in confirming the decision by China’s highest court to overturn Schellenberg’s death sentence.
Schellenberg, who has been held in northeastern Dalian since 2014, will be retried by the Liaoning High People’s Court, his lawyer Zhang said. The timing for the retrial has not yet been set.
Zhang said he met with Schellenberg in Dalian on Friday, and said the Canadian appeared relatively relaxed.
Carney, who took office last year, visited China in January as part of his global effort to broaden Canada’s export markets to reduce trade reliance on the United States.
“Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is aware of a decision issued by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China in Mr. Robert Schellenberg’s case,” foreign ministry spokesperson Thida Ith said in a statement sent to AFP.
Ith said the ministry “will continue to provide consular services to Mr. Schellenberg and to his family,” adding: “Canada has advocated for clemency in this case, as it does for all Canadians who are sentenced to the death penalty.”
New partners
Key sectors of the Canadian economy have been hammered by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and Carney has said Canada can no longer count on the United States as a reliable trading partner.
Carney says that despite ongoing tensions, including allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections, Ottawa needs a functioning relationship with Beijing to safeguard its economic future.
When in Beijing last month, Carney met Chinese President Xi Jinping and heralded an improved era in relations — saying the two countries had struck a “new strategic partnership” and a preliminary trade deal.
Global Affairs Canada did not comment on whether diplomacy during Carney’s visit related to Schellenberg’s case impacted the Chinese court decision.
“Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be provided,” Ith said.
Schellenberg’s lawyer Zhang said Carney’s visit raised his hopes that the Chinese court would announce a relatively positive outcome for his client.
Meng, who had initially been charged with scheming to evade US sanctions on Iran, was freed in September 2021.
Spavor and Kovrig were released the same month.
