At the time, the case had made a big noise in Abidjan in the banking world, up to the top of the Ivorian state.

This is the takeover by the Canadian company WestBridge Mortgage REIT (WMR) of the Banque de l'Habitat de Côte d'Ivoire (BHCI). A story that will not last long. Due to strong pressure from the Canadian bank WMR...Explanations.

According to our colleagues in the Ivorian newspaper L'Essor, "There [was] a strong smell of conspiracy whose unavowed goal [was] to 'drive' these Canadian investors out of Côte d'Ivoire around a case that they [had] tied up, managed and closed". But who is working against the Ivorian state and the employees? ".

The Ivorian media continues by revealing that: "The Canadians, it must be said today loud and clear, have followed all the regulatory steps for the acquisition of the BHCI: submission to the tender brilliantly won for the transaction. But several months later, a dark hand had fun removing from the circuit the file of acquisition of BHCI by the Canadian buyers. What these unscrupulous agents have royally forgotten is that investors ready to succeed smoothly in this transaction, have in their possession all the documents, the duplicates, of the Banking Commission of the BCEAO, of the WAEMU".

►Dark hands behind this case

In the article of the Essor, we know more about the real motives that are at the origin of the departure of the company WestBridge Mortgage REIT from Côte d'Ivoire. Here is what the buyers of the BHCI will discover by snooping in the account books of the Banque de l'Habitat de Côte d'Ivoire (BHCI):

"12 billion bad loans found, another 4 billion hidden debts. Canadian investors or buyers, by scrutinizing the accounts of the BHCI, will discover bewildered, bad loans amounting to 12 billion of our francs.

By pushing their investigations further, they will still discover the pot aux roses or what has been hidden so far from the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and also the Minister of Economy and Finance. Another 4 billion CFA francs of well-hidden or concealed debts. Half of these debts would be the fact or would be due to officials of the Ivorian government who would have until then, used the BHCI as their cash cow, in the total night and well without the knowledge of the Ivorian Head of State, HE Alassane Ouattara and also of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly and the minister in charge, Adama Koné. A case of bad governance of which these three personalities would not be scented. Never mind.

Canadians determined to conclude the transaction without revealing this pot aux roses, access an arrangement for a rescheduling to the tune of 4 billion FCFA unjustified. But this goodwill of Canadians will be confronted with the immersion of some Ivorian businessmen well known in our skies as corrupt and greedy investors [...]. The case would make a big noise within the Canadian authorities who are closely following this issue which risks polluting tomorrow the sky of the centuries-old relations of win-win bilateral cooperation between this country and Côte d'Ivoire.

While President Alassane Ouattara and Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly are calling on foreign investors to come and invest in Côte d'Ivoire, there are insatiable Ivorian businessmen and members of the AGC government who are behaving like "elephants in a china shop" to destroy the ivorian head of state's efforts. or even unnecessarily pit it against foreign powers like Canada.

To whom do we want to finally sell the BHCI? It is these those known for their methods of activists who pull the chestnuts out of the fire and the Ivorian Boom will soon denounce them, these "enemies" of development efforts, of Good Governance Ouattara. »

►Pressures

As can be seen, many efforts have been made to prevent Westbridge from taking effective control of BHCI, which before its takeover had a negative balance sheet of "CFAF 6 billion in equity and CFAF 10 billion in bad loans". In this regard, this is what the Ivorian media 7info wrote:

"At that time, it is clear that the bank [BHCI] did not respect any prudential ratio admitted by the BCEAO which requires at least 10 billion FCFA of capital. From a good source, 7info has learned that bad loans are in fact the instrument of large misappropriation of public funds, estimated at 26 billion FCFA, since BHCI was until April 2019, a public bank.

Who are the beneficiaries? 7info was able to consult a list of names. Thus we find that of a high personality beneficiary of a "loan" of 404 million CFA francs, never repaid; those of a group of executives who had access to 54 million FCFA, as well as that of a mutual of merchants of Treichville, without a known address, for an amount amounting, according to the auditors, between 1.5 and 1.8 billion FCFA! It is this money of the Ivorians, briganded by powerful local men of the economy, which makes these profiteers of another age run. »

In the wake of this BHCI case, the Canadian Westbridge will summon the Ivorian state in November 2019 before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an institution of the World Bank Group.

Recall that the Canadian company specialized in the financing of real estate Westbridge Mortgage REIT (WMR) has just taken over the New Bank of Mauritania (NBM).

►An opportunity for Mauritania

The landing of WMR in Mauritania comes at the right time, in a context favored by the opening of the new Mauritanian authorities to foreign investment, with the creation of a Higher Council of Investment...

Moreover, in an interview recently granted to the renowned pan-African newspaper Finanial Afrik, the current Managing Director of the Canadian group WestBridge Mortgage REIT (WMR) in Mauritania, Mr. Dieng Adama Boubou reassured by affirming:

"The arrival of the WMR group with proven experience in real estate financing is an opportunity for Mauritanians and our ambition is to make real estate credit accessible to both local and diaspora citizens. We intend to support the authorities in the implementation of their ambitious program of construction and rehabilitation of religious, cultural and sports infrastructure. »