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Cameroon’s state deposit agency has suspended a forced recovery effort that threatened to freeze funds backing MTN Cameroon’s Mobile Money service nationwide, a case tied to businessman Ahmadou Baba Danpullo, according to documents and people familiar with the discussions.
The Caisse des dépôts et consignations, known as CDEC, said it was pausing recovery notices targeting MTN’s “Mobile Money pool account” held at Afriland First Bank after a tripartite meeting held Nov. 12 with bank and company representatives.
The pool account is used to hold customers’ mobile wallet balances in the banking system. Any prolonged seizure risked disrupting cash-out services, merchant payments and day-to-day transactions for households and small businesses that rely on mobile money.
In its correspondence, CDEC Director General Richard Evina Obam said the suspension would last while parties provide additional information. Afriland and other lenders involved in earlier seizures were given seven days to submit what CDEC described as a complete declaration of funds already seized or placed in escrow in connection with MTN operations.
CDEC said it would then issue fresh recovery notices that exclude the Mobile Money pool account, while allowing other sums, if any, to be transferred to the public deposit fund in line with Cameroon’s rules on judicial deposits and consignments.
The dispute has repeatedly drawn MTN into Danpullo’s broader legal fight with South Africa’s First National Bank, which liquidated some of his assets in South Africa. Danpullo, through companies linked to his Bestinver group, has sought to enforce court decisions in Cameroon by targeting assets of South African interests operating locally, including the telecom operator.
MTN has argued in court filings that mobile money customer funds should not be treated like a corporate asset subject to enforcement, and it has challenged earlier decisions appointing a court clerk in Douala as custodian of seized money. The company says the arrangement conflicts with national procedures that place seized funds under the CDEC’s authority.
The issue has flared before. MTN said in 2023 that court-ordered seizures and escrow transfers posed risks to day-to-day operations. Two years later, the company cited gains on appeal, while Danpullo’s legal team said the fight wasn’t over.
