On September 7, 2017, Blessing Petroleum was the victim of a defamatory act. Indeed, an article entitled "Cameroon: The 6,000 Taxpayers Who Do Not Pay Taxes" (English translation) published in the online news outlet 237online.com says that Blessing Petroleum is one of the companies that are not in good standing in terms of taxation. This suggests that Blessing Petroleum is running its activity illegally, which is certainly not the case.
The LIST OF NON-ACTIVE TAXPAYERS IN THE FILE OF THE GENERAL TAX DIRECTORATE established by the General Directorate of Customs includes Blessing Company Limited (No. M041712621104R) whose corporate name and taxpayer number differ from Blessing Petroleum SA (No M110900029355B) with the exception of the word Blessing.
Blessing Petroleum immediately decided to take this confusion published by 237online seriously because it is about the reputation of the company, not only towards its business partners but also with its customers and consumers. Blessing Petroleum addressed a letter today to the attention of 237 Online, demanding the correction of the defamatory article and the drafting of an apology article aimed at repairing the harm caused.
"Maintaining high standards of integrity and nationalism is a matter of great care; we cautiously and regularly monitor and update our tax status in order to avoid any complications that may affect our business," confirms Blessing Petroleum in the letter sent to the editorial unit of 237 Online.
We have received several calls from several partners and clients in Cameroon and abroad questioning our credibility after reading the article published by 237online. This is because the picture of Blessing Petroleum appears at the top of the article.
Later, we were informed that the article published by this cyberjournal first appeared in the September 7, 2017 issue of the newspaper Le Quotidien de l'Economie which alleged that Blessing Company is a chain of filling stations included in the list of taxpayers who do not pay taxes, which is outrageously erroneous.
Faced with this situation, Blessing Petroleum is committed to obtaining reparation for the damages and harm incurred from 237online.com for reporting false information by mainly exposing the reputation of Blessing Petroleum. We also demand a denial from the Economics Daily for reporting an unsubstantiated piece of information, involving Blessing Petroleum in this fiscal scandal.
It took several years to build the reputation that Blessing Petroleum illustrates today and we cannot let malicious reporters dissolve it so easily. We cannot allow anyone to compromise the confidence placed in us by Cameroonian and international institutions, our many partners and our customers and consumers. We will use all possible means, including legal actions, against any person involved, in order to correct this offense.
