West Africa’s QNET Bans Expose a Persistent Enforcement and Disclosure Gap

A growing list of prohibitions and police actions tied to the QNET brand across West Africa is forcing an awkward question that regulators and political parties keep dodging: bans on paper are not the same as bans in practice, especially when distributor networks are local and long-lived. Côte d’Ivoire’s Treasury has reiterated a July 8, 2020 decision banning QNET AMD and related offshoots, while reporting cited by Le Monde places QNET prohibitions in Guinea (2019), Côte d’Ivoire (2020) and Burkina Faso (2024). In Ghana, the Economic and Organised Crime Office says its 2025-2026 operations led to arrests and the rescue and repatriation of victims linked to QNET-branded schemes. That record sharpens scrutiny of figures publicly identified in QNET materials, including Fofana Amaral (also known as VC Amaral Fofan), described as an “Associate V Partner” and “Diamond Star,” with activity dating to 2007-2008 and references to a 2013-era title, “Directeur Afrique de Qnet.” Complicating matters, a 2025 CEI candidate listing shows him as a suppléant on the RHDP legislative slate in Daloa, though some public descriptions go further and call him a deputy without clear confirmation from slate-level results. The unresolved core is documentation: whether Côte d’Ivoire’s ban was enforced against local structures using the QNET name, whether entities operated under other labels, and what Treasury notices, EOCO case summaries, corporate registries and election files reveal about authority, benefit and deterrence during prohibition periods.