Benin / Misappropriation at ORTB : The Time for Major Revelations !
Nine former officials of the Office of Radio-Television of Benin (ORTB) have been arrested in a case of financial misappropriation between 2017 and 2020. The former head of the finance and accounting division of the ORTB Parakou, summoned to testify at the trial at the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET), revealed details about the redistribution of commissions and kickbacks.
The accused pleaded guilty to the charge of « misappropriation of public funds » while rejecting other charges such as « abuse of functions, criminal association, money laundering. »
According to the finance official, the director of ORTB Parakou was the budget authorizer and had ordered several fund disbursements that were distributed according to a scheme devised by the financial director, Vivien Codjia. He claimed that issues began after the appointment of the financial director in 2016.
The former head of the finance and accounting division stated that the financial director introduced a practice of kickbacks from the operational fund of ORTB Parakou upon his arrival. The financial director allegedly demanded a kickback of 1.5 million FCFA every month from a fund of 5 million FCFA. He stated that the financial director conditioned the monthly payment of the operational budget on the remittance of this amount.
The witness explained that the fund distribution was 60% sent to the Cotonou office, 30% shared among the officials in Parakou, and the remaining 10% sent to providers submitting fictitious invoices to prove activities.
The accused disclosed numerous irregularities detected by the General Inspectorate of Finance during its audit of ORTB, including the use of past invoices to justify current purchases, the existence of kickbacks, the diversion of resources from Parakou to Cotonou, non-compliance with the unity of ORTB’s cash registers, and the purchase of billed office equipment.
Regarding the total amount of damages declared by the accused (181 million FCFA), the Attorney General’s representative opposed the figures from the audit report, citing a total of over 237.769.000 FCFA. The suspended trial will resume the next day with further developments.
