Lawmen in Bamenda, headquarter of the North West Region, who are at the centre of allegations by beneficiaries of the Tatsa Estate that they ganged up to “wrongfully and illegally claim FCFA 1.583.788 awarded by the Courts for work not done” (CT No.10357/6558 of June 7th, 2013) have dismissed the allegations as derogatory, baseless, impossible and unfounded.
It emerged from a briefing on June 16, 2013 that the President of the Mezam High Court, Battonier Sama Francis, Barrister Ndumu Hilda, Bailiff Njoya Joseph and Bailiff Pierre Nchinda are solidly by the law. They said they were separately briefed or consulted to handle the matter and at no moment were they collectively on the same side to connive and collude to defraud the estate. Barrister Ndumu Hilda told CT that she was first of all regularly briefed by the traditional successor of the Tatsa family for purposes of securing letters of administration upon the death of late John Tatsa, the Bamenda–based businessman at the helm of a huge fortune who died without a Will on December 31, 2010.The family later acknowledged receipt of the report of work done and she presented an honorarium (legal fees) for the work that has not been paid by press time, leading to a legal dispute which is pending in the Court of Appeal. Barrister Ndumu Hilda says that she followed proper procedures and addressed competent authorities for adjudication or decisions in the saga.
She dismissed as “misuse of words” when treated in the Tatsa petition as “persons who have not helped matters in the crisis which they caused in an attempt to defraud and liquidate the estate” because the matter is still pending in the Appeal Court and the amounts raised in the petition are incorrect.
A decision of the President of the Mezam High Court, following an application filed by some 23 members of the Tatsa Estate, directed Sheriff Bailiffs, (Njoya Joseph Fonyuy, Nchinda Pierre), acting as Court Officers to identify, gather, collect and make an inventory of late John John Tatsa’s property wherever they are, including cash in banks. The Court equally made Orders relating to Winter Transport Company, requiring that offices be sealed and an inventory equally carried out. Bailiffs, Njoya Joseph and Nchinda Pierre told CT that they diligently worked in collaboration with beneficiaries, experts and other professional colleagues. Meanwhile, Batonnier, Sama Francis says the Tatsa allegations which attack Court decisions, judicial officers and professionals is an attack on their integrity.
The lawmen appear at a loss that the Tatsas petitioned when it is thanks to justice that most of the beneficiaries, as opposed to some five, have benefitted from the entire Tatsa Estate after the demise of John Tatsa. In respective petitions to the Minister of Justice on March 14 and April 11, 2013, some Tatsa children complained about what they said was forgery in their father’s Estate by other children while others changed the signatures on business accounts and articles of association of Winter Transport Company.
