Jean Marcel Dayas Mounoume and three others were on Friday, July 3, 2015, sentenced by the Special Criminal Court.
The former General Manager of the Douala Ports Authority, DPA, Jean Marcel Dayas Mounoume, was on Friday, July 3, 2015, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the Yaounde Special Criminal Court, SCC. He was jailed alongside two others for complicity in the embezzlement of FCFA 458.4 million.
Also found guilty was Patrice Tsimi Enyengue, a businessman, who was convicted of embezzling the amount. He got a 20-year sentence while Arsène Essomba Eloundou, former DPA Deputy General Manager and Mounoume’s ex-assistant, was jailed for 10 years and Abel Manguieb Agbor, former DPA Director of Administration and Finance, received 15 years, for conniving to steal the amount.
Out of the four accused, only two were in court – Patrice Tsimi Enyengue and Arsène Essomba Eloundou. Meanwhile, arrest warrants were issued against Jean Marcel Dayas Mounoume and Abel Manguieb Agbor. The Douala Ports Authority did not ask for the payment of any losses while the State asked and got the FCFA 458.4 million. The four guilty men are to repay the embezzled amount of FCFA 458.4 million as well as FCFA 23.4 million, being the cost of the trial.
The origin of the embezzlement dates back to 1998 when government restructured the management of sea ports in the country. This resulted in the creation of the Douala Ports Authority, Limbe Ports Authority, Kribi Ports Authority and the Garoua Ports Authority; all in replacement of the defunct National Ports Authority of Cameroon, ONPC. Under the reforms, the use of tug boats to enable ships berth and take off, was withdrawn from DIT International and Rebonarde by former DPA General Manager, Alphonse Siyam Siewe and handed to two companies as part of the privatisation process of ONPC’s activities required by the new dispensation.
The first accused, Tsimi Enyegue Patrice, signed the termination of contract on behalf of Rebonarde. Problems began when the liabilities of DIT International were transferred to White Nile Corporation, WNC, while those of Rebonarde went to Cyker Line Shipping. Not happy with some aspects of the arrangement, the Douala Port Authority management took the matter to court and eventually lost in the Paris, France Court of Appeal. The new DPA management under Dayas Mounoume Jean Marcel, took the matter to its Board of Directors, which agreed that the fine of 913,000 US Dollars (about FCFA 458 million), imposed by the Paris court, be paid.
A DPA team was then set up to draw up a draft agreement for paying the fine, beginning with the main amount; while payments of interest and losses were to follow later. Though the Board ordered payment by DPA of the fine beginning December 2008, it was only from September 2009 that an agreement was finally reached with the civil claimants. Thereafter, the accused issued cheques for the bank account of their accomplice, Patrice Tsimi Enyengue, who received the FCFA 458.4 million; thereby going against the Paris court ruling.
