Ambazonia ‘garri master’ arrested in the US over loan fraud

United States-based Cameroonian, Eric Tano Tataw, infamously known as ‘garri master,’ has been arrested and will be appearing in court on September 8, 2023. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently filed a criminal complaint at the Maryland District Court, requesting an arrest warrant be issued against him.

A special agent at Homeland Security Investigations, Kyle Zraggen, who has been investigating Eric Tataw’s National Telegraph, submitted an affidavit accusing Tataw of “tampering with a witness with the intent to influence the testimony of Witness I before the grand jury in an official proceeding”.

He filed an affidavit at the Maryland District Court on September 1 asking that an arrest warrant be issued against the pro-Ambazonian protagonist, who is widely remembered for ordering the chopping of hands and limbs of CDC workers, in a process he described as ‘garri’.

He is being charged with attempting to corrupt a witness who was deemed to testify before the DHS’ grand jury about money Tataw is reported to have borrowed on behalf of his media company, National Telegraph, in 2020 and 2021.

Investigated for loan fraud

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a specialised arm of the DHS, has been investigating Tataw on allegations of wire fraud and Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loan fraud.

Tataw borrowed over $163,000 (about FCFA 99.7 million) from the PPP in 2020 and 2021 and stated that the money was meant to pay his employees at National Telegraph, a media company he founded back in Cameroon.

The investigators alleged that Tataw falsified the number of employees at National Telegraph, the monthly salaries of his employees, and the amount of money the company allegedly generated to obtain the loan.

“As a result of the fraudulent applications, National Telegraph was approved for two PPP loans totaling over $163,000 in 2020 and 2021,” the HSI affidavit said.

“The evidence also indicates that Tataw used at least a portion of these funds on impermissible personal expenditures rather than payroll and business expenditures that are permitted by PPP rules and regulations,” it furthered.

According to new sentencing guidelines published by the US Justice Department, Tataw could face a maximum of 30 years in jail if convicted. The Justice Department’s criminal division, said such frauds are serious as they usurp funds allocated to support struggling Americans.

“The Criminal Division and our partners are committed to identifying and holding accountable those who exploit the COVID-19 pandemic for their own gain,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As these cases demonstrate, we are unwavering in our determination to prosecute those who have defrauded relief programs meant to help struggling Americans during the pandemic.”

Witness exposes Tataw

The unnamed witness to the criminal investigations against Eric Tataw told the DHS investigator Tataw used both money and physical threats to cause him to testify in his favour.

The said witness, who was scheduled to testify before a Federal grand jury in Maryland on August 29, told HSI that Tataw pressured him to lie to the jury.

Tataw reportedly gave the witness “fake documents” about the operations of the National Telegraph and told the witness what to tell the grand jury. This included that the witness should tell the jury he was an employee of Tataw’s National Telegraph.

“Witness I reported that TATAW stated that Witness I needed to “save him” by telling the grand jury that Witness I had been an employee at National Telegraph. TATAW told Witness I that he would present Witness I with documents and instructed Witness I to amend Witness I’s taxes,” Kyle Zraggen wrote in the affidavit.

Visibly, the attempts backfired. During a meeting with Eric Tataw on August 28, the witness recorded the conversation with Tataw and released the tape to the police.

Borrowed money behind recent manifest of wealth?

For several months now, he seemed to have abandoned the quest for independence in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions, which he much trumpeted, in favour of business.

It was reported he had dumped the prolonged independence quest to focus on his newfound business company, Dimples.

Pictures of a multi-million dollar mansion he reportedly bought for the company flaunted social media, with the daily newspaper The Guardian Post reporting that the once-fervent Ambazonia activist had dumped the cause.

Many had questioned the source of his sudden wealth after he announced the multi-million dollar Dimples mansion, which he bought in the US. Some attributed the wealth to the crisis in the English-speaking Regions, where armed separatists make huge sums of money through kidnappings.

However, the HSI investigation seems to be shedding light on how Tataw’s wealth originated. It is possible he diverted the $163,000 he borrowed from the PPP in 2020 and 2021 to open a new line of business.

Still an Amba activist

Contrary to speculations that Tataw had dumped the Ambazonia separatist quest, he hasn’t.

In a message posted on his propaganda channel, the National Telegraph, on June 23, he said he was “hibernating” and waiting for the armed conflict to take a second phase.

Tataw was one of several activists that sprang up in the early days of the Ambazonia independence war to preach against Anglophone marginalisation under President Paul Biya’s over 40-year rule.