Fight against fraud: Chad suspends its customs branch in Douala
Chadian financial authorities are engaging in a test of strength to secure customs revenue along the transit axes connecting the country to the Cameroonian coast. A ministerial directive signed on June 1, 2026, provides for the immediate freezing of the activities of the Chad customs branch operating at the port of Douala, ordering the immediate repatriation of all personnel to Ndjamena.
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The collapse of control mechanisms at the Ngueli border posts and on port platforms has exposed serious documentary failures, characterized by recurrent falsifications of the origin of cargoes and fraudulent removals of goods without regular declarations. The Ministry of Finance is taking a firm stance by suspending all provisional agreements granted to accredited customs brokers, now requiring the systematic production of original commercial invoices and bills of lading before any clearance.
The sidelining of the coastal customs representation is part of the audit conducted by the General Finance Inspection, which highlights the financial vulnerabilities of the transport corridor. Ongoing investigations echo the financial malpractices found within the National Land Freight Bureau, where a diversion of public funds totaling 8 billion CFA francs was identified, including a specific debt of 7.45 billion CFA francs attributable to the Douala agency alone. To curb the erosion of tax bases, the Chadian government is conditioning the issuance of any new professional authorization to the discretionary approval of the Minister of Finance. Ndjamena, however, reaffirms that the tightening of administrative formalities should not hinder the flow of containerized goods destined for the hinterland, redirecting some traffic to the deep-sea port facilities of Kribi.
The timing of this takeover coincides with a bilateral crisis session between the customs administrations of the two partner countries in Yaoundé. Negotiators are focusing on cargo traceability, the critical volume of unprocessed transit titles, and the geolocation of road freight to curb the underground economy that undermines commercial integration in the Cemac zone. The success of this structural reform will serve as a barometer of the Chadian state's ability to maximize the collection of its port duties without blocking the supply of its domestic market. The restoration of customs order on the Douala-Ndjamena axis is imperative for economic sovereignty, as the proliferation of non-certified intermediaries hinders the effectiveness of national control barriers.
Asaba
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