Chad envoy reportedly sacked by president

Implicated in Griffiths Energy bribery scandal

Fallout from a high-profile Calgary bribery case has spread from Canada to Africa, now that Chad’s president has reportedly sacked an ambassador for his role in a cash-for-access scheme targeting lucrative oil plays in the African nation.

Just one day after a Canadian judge ordered Griffiths Energy International to pay $10.35-million in fines for a 2011 bribe paid to the wife of Mahamoud Adam Bechir, at the time Chad’s ambassador to Canada, President Idriss Deby Itno dismissed Mr. Bechir from his latest diplomatic post in South Africa, according to local Chad media.

A French-language tchadonline. com article said the president responded to the Canadian decision in the most “severe” way, firing Mr. Bechir for transforming his diplomatic mission into a “haven for white-collar criminals.” Another website, an opposition publication called Alwihda, reported on Sunday that the president fired Mr. Bechir on Saturday after he was “accused in a bribery case.”

When the bribery scheme took off in 2009, shortly after legendary investment banker Brad Griffiths incorporated his oil-exploration company, Mr. Bechir was simultaneously serving as Chad’s ambassador to the United States and was housed by an embassy in Washington, D.C.

U.S. State Department documents show he was named Chad’s envoy to the U.S. in 2004, but a new person took over in July 2012. Canadian documents identify Mr. Bechir as Chad’s ambassador to Ottawa as recently as October, but by November the position was listed as “vacant.”

The National Post reached Chad’s embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, where Mr. Bechir most recently served, but a press secretary there said he had not been in the country since leaving for Chad on regular official business sometime in November. When asked about reports that Mr. Bechir was dismissed over the weekend, the press secretary said “there is no problem” and that “he will come back.” South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation department still lists Mr. Bechir as Chad’s ambassador in Pretoria.

A spokesperson for Griffiths Energy International declined to comment on the African media reports. Chad’s government did not respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday. Efforts to reach Mr. Bechir’s wife, who was implicated in the scheme after entering into the criminal consulting agreement herself, were unsuccessful. She is believed to be living in Silver Springs, MD.