For Ivorian fintech CinetPay, the timing could hardly be worse. Fresh from being named one of the latest companies to receive a payment institution licence from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), its Senegalese operations are now entangled in a sprawling criminal probe involving money laundering, organised fraud, and illegal online gambling.

The scandal, which broke following an investigation by Senegal’s Special Cybersecurity Division (DSC), has led to the arrest of CinetPay’s business development manager in Dakar and casts a shadow over the region’s booming fintech scene. For a company backed by industry giants like Flutterwave, the allegations represent a significant reputational crisis.

A Web of Allegations

The investigation began after several individuals filed complaints about harassment. According to reports in the Senegalese newspaper Libération, victims were contacted by supposed loan companies like “Prontopaiement” and “Leviet Bank,” demanding repayment for phantom micro-loans of around 10,000 CFA francs (approx. €15). To apply pressure, the fraudsters would send victims documents containing their personal data and contact their family members.

Investigators traced the extorted funds, discovering they were funnelled through CinetPay’s platform to a Côte d’Ivoire-based entity named Nectar Microcrédit Technologie. The primary contact for these transfers was allegedly CinetPay Senegal’s now-arrested manager, a Mr. Faye.

The plot thickened during a search of CinetPay’s Dakar office. Police reportedly seized a registration document for a company named Sunutech Ltd Sarl, which operated under the name Seyp Senegal. This is the same entity accused of a massive Ponzi-like scheme that defrauded Senegalese citizens of over 10 billion CFA francs (approx. €15.2m). While the Chinese nationals suspected of running Sunutech have reportedly fled to Côte d’Ivoire — CinetPay’s home turf — technical analysis showed CinetPay allegedly processed fraudulent payments for the scheme throughout 2024, precisely when authorities claimed to have dismantled it.

As if the laundry list of accusations wasn’t long enough, investigators also found a formal notice sent to CinetPay from Senegal’s national lottery, Lonase. The letter accuses the fintech of acting as a payment gateway for unlicensed international gambling sites 1Win, Betwinner, and Melbet.

CinetPay, founded in 2016 by Idriss Marcial Monthe and Daniel Dindji, has not yet issued a public statement on the investigation.

Awkward Timing for the Regulator

The scandal lands at a delicate moment for the BCEAO. The central bank has recently shifted from its famously cautious pace to a full sprint, nearly doubling the number of licensed payment institutions across the eight-country WAEMU bloc from 11 to 20 in just three months. CinetPay Africa SA was a proud member of this new cohort.

This licensing push is part of a broader, and rather forceful, regulatory tidy-up. The BCEAO has mandated that all digital payment providers must be directly licensed by August 31, 2025. Come September 1, 2025, any unlicensed operator will be shut out of the formal system.

The prize for compliance is access to the BCEAO’s long-awaited regional instant payment system (PI-SPI), set to go live on September 30, 2025. This platform promises seamless, 24/7 transfers between banks, mobile money wallets, and microfinance institutions — the holy grail of interoperability in a region dominated by mobile payments. For licensed players, it’s a golden key; for the unlicensed, it’s a locked door.

The CinetPay affair now suggests that getting a licence and running a compliant operation are two very different things, putting the central bank’s vetting process under uncomfortable scrutiny.

A Systemic Problem?

The case also highlights a wider governance problem brewing in West Africa’s tech hubs. It comes on the heels of another insider fraud scandal in Senegal at Intech Group, a payment aggregator. There, the company’s treasurer was arrested for allegedly embezzling 298 million CFA francs (approx. €455,000) over four years by exploiting a software feature to “replay” old transactions and divert them to his personal accounts.

In another instance at Sénégal Numérique SA, the state’s digital agency, a social media manager siphoned off over 46 million CFA (approx. €70,000) by using the company’s corporate card for his personal e-commerce ventures.

In both cases, trusted insiders allegedly operated for years without detection due to weak internal controls. For an ecosystem eager to attract international capital, these incidents are a flashing red light, revealing a culture where personal trust often substitutes for robust corporate governance.

For CinetPay, which raised a $2.4m seed round in 2021 to fuel its expansion, the road ahead looks complicated. The company was built to solve payment fragmentation in Francophone Africa. But as it finds itself at the heart of a criminal investigation, it now embodies the profound challenge facing the region’s fintech champions: managing breakneck growth without breaking the rules.

Editor’s Note: Following the publication of this article, Launch Base Africa received the following ‘right of reply’ from CinetPay’s management on Monday, September 15, 2025. It is published here in full:

Right of Reply from CinetPay

Following the publication of the article “Fintech CinetPay in Troubled Waters” in Libération on September 9, 2025, CinetPay wishes to provide clarifications in order to set the record straight.

Contrary to insinuations, CinetPay is not implicated in any illegal activities. A third-party company misused its services, leading to the opening of an investigation. As soon as the facts were discovered, CinetPay immediately terminated the contract with the merchant, provided the authorities with all necessary information in full cooperation, and initiated legal proceedings by filing a complaint with the Public Prosecutor against the said company.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the commercial collaborators summoned by the authorities do not hold any executive or decision-making roles within CinetPay. Their questioning is solely part of an investigation into the practices of a third-party merchant.

CinetPay reaffirms its commitment to financial inclusion and regulatory compliance. Its mission is based on transparency and regulation. Already licensed as a payment institution in Côte d’Ivoire, the company has initiated several procedures to obtain additional licenses in the sub-region in order to strengthen trust and security in its services.

Finally, CinetPay denounces any attempt at demonization aimed at tarnishing its image. The company reaffirms its dedication to its core values of integrity and responsibility, and continues its close collaboration with regulators, governments, and partners to contribute to the development of the digital financial sector in Africa.

The general management