The Legal Department and defence counsel on May 25, 2015 asked for the rejection of the request by the former national carrier General Manager.
The second phase of the trial of Yves Michel Fotso, former General Manager of Camair, the defunct national carrier, on alleged embezzlement charges at the Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court, SCC, witnessed a mild drama on Monday, May 25, 2015. Counsel for Michel Fotso, including French and German lawyers, had in the past argued for the dropping of charges against their client.
In Monday’s sitting, both the Advocates General and counsel for the civil claimant, asked the court presided by Mr. Justice Moukoury Francis and assisted by Mr. Justice Jean Claude Michel Nana and Mrs. Justice Zibi Nsoe, to reject the defence’s application. The Advocates General were Taghim Jean Claude and Ngoupa Napoleon. According to the civil claimant and prosecution, the accused’s request for dropping of charges may only be considered if he applied to the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals after reimbursing the amount he embezzled before the start of the trial. But in the case at hand, they argued, Yves Michel Fotso had simply made known his intention to reimburse, though he also applied for charges against him to be dropped.
In response, counsel for the accused pointed out what they saw as inconsistencies in the arguments of the prosecution, recalling that in the first phase of the same trial, an agreement had already been reached between the accused and the Legal Department. Thus it was not simply the mentioning of intention to reimburse, but honouring the agreement to do so by already paying in FCFA 250 million, Fotso’s lawyers argued. They pointed out that their client did not continue with the reimbursement because his bank accounts were frozen, but he had offered to pay in kind. The former Camair GM’s counsel therefore pleaded with the court to defreeze his accounts in order to enable him continue with the reimbursement.
Based on this demonstrated will and efforts, the SCC should be convinced enough to drop charges against Yves Michel Fotso, the lawyers stressed. The matter was then adjourned to June 8, 2015. Yves Michel Fotso on November 6, 2014, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraudulently obtaining FCFA 18.9 billion from 2000 to 2002. The suit, filed by Camair’s Liquidation Committee and the State of Cameroon, says the sum comprised FCFA 4,051,209,866, FCFA 4,606,130,515, and FCFA 8,934,203,742, which was compensation for the famous Boeing 747 ‘Combi’ aircraft as well as FCFA 1,400,000,000 that represented the value of the wreck of the aircraft.
