Albatross affair: Supreme Court dismisses Mebara’s appeal

The court also adjourned hearing in the appeal by Marafa Hamidou Yaya and Yves Michel Fotso to May 17, 2016.

The Supreme Court in Yaounde on May 3, 2016, dismissed the appeal by Jean Marie Atangana Mebara, former Secretary General at the Presidency, against the 20-year sentence by the Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court. Mebara was convicted on September 10, 2015, of embezzling 5 million US Dollars meant for the purchase of a presidential aircraft, the Bbjet 2.

Delivering the ruling in the company of six Justices of the Specialised Section of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Daniel Mekobe Sone said the appeal papers were incomplete. Earlier, counsel for the State, defence and Mebara had argued their cases, trying to justify why or not the appeal should be admitted. The former Secretary General in the Presidency himself took the floor on several occasions to point out how the trial in the Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court was “characterised by irregularities.”

In the first matter for the day, the Supreme Court, at the request of Advocate General Ngatcha Esaie, adjourned the appeal hearing of Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Secretary General at the Presidency and Yves Michel Fotso, ex-General Manager of the defunct national carrier, Cameroon Airlines, Camair, to May 17, 2016.

Alongside Sandjon Paho Genevieve Paul Gisele and Nkounda Julienne, the four were on September 12, 2012, convicted for embezzling about 21 billion FCFA meant for the purchase of a presidential aircraft, the Bbjet 2. Marafa and Fotso received 25-year jail terms each, while the other two accused got away with lesser sentences.