Ondo Ndong dies five months after serving 20-yr jail term.

Reports hold that he died in his native Assandjick village in Ambam Subdivision, Ntem Valley Division of the South Region. Ondo Ndong was believed to be 78 years old at the time of his death.

But what was public knowledge in recent times about Ondo Ndong was his release from prison, on February 21, this year. He regained freedom after spending 20 years in jail for embezzling billions of FCFA, while managing FEICOM.

Images of him as at the time he left prison, showed a decline in his demeanor. The situation left many concluding that prison life had affected his health and morphology.

He told reporters the day he left prison that he was happy to be a free man. Ondo Ndong also expressed gratitude to God for having kept him alive throughout his 20-year stay in prison.

Reports had also emerged of him having reportedly gotten married to a younger woman not long after he left prison. He lost his mother while in jail.

To the surprise of many, he also thanked the Head of State, Paul Biya, for his release. He disclosed that the Head of State had ensured his mother was given a befitting burial despite him being incarcerated.

Ondo Ndong was thrown behind bars in February 2006. He was among the early personalities arrested and jailed within the anti-corruption scheme, Operation Sparrow hawk, which Biya launched.

He was sacked as FEICOM Director General on November 11, 2005, and was arrested three months after. Ondo Ndong managed FEICOM from 2001 to 2005.

A few years back, immovable property linked to the now deceased former FEICOM Director General, was 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 was slammed a 50-year jail term on June 28, 2007, plus the confiscation of all his property. In 2014, the Supreme Court reassessed the case and reduced his jail term to 20 years following an appeal. 

Ondo Ndong, many are saying, will be remembered for having called on the population of the South Region to vote massively for Biya in the 2011 Presidential election. The call was made from his detention cell at the State Secretariat for Defense, SED.

The former FEICOM boss was a major voice within the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM. He laboured for years, implanting the CPDM in the entire Ntem Valley Division, in the South Region.

In his days at FEICOM, Ondo Ndong was known for his generosity towards members of the public. Many accounts exist of how he used every occasion to share out cash to people he came across.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3881 of Monday August 17, 2026