Two workers from the electrification company, SOGELEC, were slammed life imprisonment sentences by the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde on Friday, May 31, 2013. Clément Biandoung and Nga Melingui, respectively General Manager and staff of the company, were found guilty of embezzling FCFA 75 million, being a double payment for a contract awarded by the Yaounde City Council to electrify certain streets of Yaounde in 2008.
The ruling, delivered by the panel of judges comprising Mr. Justice Yap Abdou, Mrs Justice Virginie Eloundou and Mr. Justice Mathias Nyoh, also gave 12-year jail sentences to Messrs Joseph Olinga and Armand Eloundou Elomo for colluding to embezzle, but acquitted Messrs Talla Feuneu and Samuel Bayeck, all workers of the Ministry of Finance.
According to the judgement, a payment decision was erroneously prepared in April 2011 in the Finance Ministry’s Department of Budget by Talla Feuneu for the payment of FCFA 75 million (FCFA 89 million including taxes) to settle one of SOGELEC’s bills which had already been paid. The budget line was validated by Samuel Bayeck and forwarded to Armand Eloundou Elomo who verified its regularity and gave his visa for payment.
Three weeks later, Nga Melingui from SOGELEC contacted Eloundou Elomo, Joseph Olinga and Hervée Lucienne Moussoua Moukete and obtained their complicity to turn a blind to the irregularities of the payment decision and speed up its payment. In the process, Nga Melingui gave two cheques of FCFA 2.5 million and FCFA 7.5 million, respectively, to Joseph Olinga and Moussoua Moukete, the judgement held. After discovering both cheques had bounced and that SOGELEC had received the money in its coffers, Moussoua Moukete instigated Joseph Olinga to file a complaint with the police that led to the discovery of the double payment scam.
The Ministry of Finance took measures after uncovering the double payment error, to recover the money on September 13, 2012 from SOGELEC and so was not a civil claimer in the suit. Prior to sentence delivered by presiding judge, Mr. Justice Yap Abdou, Advocate General, Didier Edjisna, had requested life imprisonment for Clément Biandoung and Nga Melingui because they are on the run and 40-year imprisonment terms for the Finance Ministry workers.
