Faced with the persistent magnitude of unrecovered public debts and increasing pressure on public finances, the Debt Recovery Company (SRC) wants to scale up. The Cameroonian public enterprise responsible for returning resources owed to the State and its branches now intends to rely on international cooperation mechanisms to do so. Specifically, on the new “Silver Notice” developed by the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) or Interpol, to identify and recover assets hidden abroad by debtors or economic criminals.
This strategic shift comes in a context of strengthening the fight against money laundering and redefining the role of the SRC. Long confined to the traditional recovery of debts, the structure has been entrusted with new missions of administration and management of frozen, seized, and tax assets. For its director general, Marie Rose Messi, international openness is no longer an option but a condition of effectiveness. “The effectiveness of recovery actions also depends on our international deployment. That is why we turn to Interpol to help us track economic criminals wherever they are,” she explains.
The “Silver Notice”, a tool tailored for financial crime
Introduced in 2025 as part of a pilot phase involving 52 countries, the “Silver Notice” marks a major evolution in Interpol’s arsenal. Unlike the more well-known notices focused on locating individuals, this new instrument primarily targets assets linked to criminal activities. It allows member states to globally disseminate alerts and requests for information on assets suspected of originating from fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime, or other serious offenses.
In practice, the “Silver Notice” facilitates the identification of laundered or hidden assets in various forms (real estate, luxury vehicles, bank accounts, stakes in companies, or complex financial structures). The collected information can then serve as a basis for cooperation procedures between states, paving the way for seizure, confiscation, or recovery requests, in accordance with national legislation.
For the SRC, the stakes are strategic. According to an audit report by the Chamber of Accounts of the Supreme Court, between 2018 and 2022, the company only recovered less than 30% of its portfolio of debts, estimated at 597 billion CFA francs (approximately 1.05 billion USD). A rate considered “insufficient” given the financing needs of the State and the recurring pressures on public cash flow.
Non-fiscal recovery, a lever for budgetary breathing space
Beyond the operational performance of the SRC, the issue of non-tax debt recovery is part of a broader debate on budget sustainability. For Marie Rose Messi, the Cameroonian state remains too dependent on fiscal tools to balance its accounts. “The recovery of criminal assets is an important issue for the State of Cameroon, as these recoveries can improve the recovery rate of non-tax revenues of the State. Currently, we rely entirely on taxation. When there is a small problem, we increase taxes,” she laments. And she adds, “If the State focuses on the recovery of non-tax debts, we can achieve a slight respite in the fiscal situation.”
This approach resonates particularly in a context where fiscal maneuvering room is shrinking, and pressure on taxpayers fuels social and economic tensions.
Strengthening national capacities, beyond the Interpol tool
Aware that technology and international mechanisms alone are not enough, the SRC is also seeking to strengthen the operational capacities of the relevant administrations. In this regard, it organized a five-day intensive training in Yaoundé, in partnership with the national police, on combating corruption, money laundering, and recovery of criminal assets. Led by Interpol experts, the session brought together personnel from tax administrations and structures involved in the fight against corruption and money laundering.
Through this initiative, the SRC is trying to give concrete substance to its international deployment strategy. However, a major unknown remains: the medium-term capacity of this lever to significantly improve recovery performance. The recovery of assets hidden abroad depends as much on the quality of judicial cooperation as on the strength of national procedures and the ability of administrations to effectively exploit the information obtained. An institutional and technical challenge that will determine the success or failure of this international shift in Cameroonian debt recovery.
