After 20 years in jail: Ondo Ndong, Roger Belinga, Joseph Edou regain freedom.

These personalities are; Emmanuel Gerard Ondo Ndong, former Director General, DG, of the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance, FEICOM; Gilles-Roger Belinga, former DG of the Cameroon Housing Corporation known by its French acronym, SIC, and Joseph Edou; former DG of the Cameroon Housing Loan Corporation known in French as Credit Foncier.

Pockets of celebrations unfolded in the Yaounde homes of the officials. Relatives and acquaintances flooded their homes, singing songs of celebrations to welcome the former DGs back to society.

Ondo Ndong’s return

Videos emerged of the former FEICOM Director General, in the afternoon of last Friday emerging from a car after leaving prison.  He remained chubby but had further aged, given the years spent behind bars.

Moments after taking a seat in his living room, scores of persons, mostly relatives and others said to have benefitted from his largesse, clustered in front of him, singing and celebrating as Ondo Ndong watched on.

He told reporters that, after 20 years in prison, he is happy to be free.  He expressed gratitude to God for keeping everyone in his family alive, but for his mother, who passed on while he was in prison.

Ondo Ndong also expressed gratitude to the Head of State, Paul Biya, whom he said assisted to see that his mother was given a befitting burial while he was in jail.

It should be stated that Ondo Ndong was thrown behind bars in February 2006. He had fallen into the dragnet of the anti-corruption drive, codenamed Operation Sparrow Hawk, which the Head of State, Paul Biya, had launched. He was sacked from his post on November 11, 2005, before being picked up three months after.

A few years back, immovable properties linked to the former FEICOM DG were auctioned and the money put into the State treasury. Ondo Ndong, according to court estimates, was found guilty of embezzling over 50 billion FCFA.

He had first been slammed a 50-year jail term, which was later reassessed and reduced to 20 years after he appealed the ruling. 

The case of Gilles-Roger Belinga

The former SIC DG, Gilles-Roger Belinga, reunited with his family members last Friday, after two decades behind bars. Unlike 20 years ago when he was younger and energetic, Belinga appeared weak, frail and leaning on some relatives to walk his way into his house.

He is said to have organised a Thanksgiving Mass in church. Acquaintances said the mass was to thank God for his release from prison after two decades.

In 2007, he was slammed a 37-year sentence for embezzlement of State funds. He was found guilty of embezzling public funds, complicity in the embezzlement of public funds among other actions that cost the State billions of FCFA.

His sentence was later reduced to 20 years. Belinga had been detained at the State Secretariat for Defense, SED.

Joseph Edou

The third person in the batch of those who regained freedom last Friday February 21, 2026, is Joseph Edou. He served as Director General of the Cameroon Housing Loan Corporation, Credit Foncier, from 1998 to 2006.

He was first sentenced to 40 years in prison in July 2008. He went on appeal and the sentence was reduced to 20 years. 

Edou is an economist who taught at the University of Yaounde II Soa and later served as economic adviser at the Prime Minister’s Office and at the Presidency of the Republic.

It was from the Presidency that he was appointed as the Director General of Credit Foncier.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3712 of Monday February 23, 2026