Court clears Abah Abah; but remains in jail

Former Minister of Finance, Polycarp Abah Abah will remain under detention despite being declared not guilty and acquitted of all charges in the case of embezzlement of public funds in connection with the defunct national produce marketing board.

He will not be freed because this case was just one out of several charges levelled against this former minister of finance. He was declared not guilty last September 26 during the final verdict on the case. Another co accused, sheriff bailiff Célestin Baleng Maah was also found not guilty and acquitted by the court.

During last Friday’s verdict, the President of the Special Criminal Court, Justice Yap Abdou declared that Barrister Lydienne Annette Yen-Eyoum who is under detention since January 8, 2010 was found guilty of embezzling FCFA 1,077 billion and complicity in the embezzlement of public funds is sentenced to 25 years in prison while Ngwen Honoré, former legal affairs director at the Ministry of Finance during the time of the incident judged in abstentia and found guilty of complicity in the embezzlement of public funds was then handed a life sentence. Ngwen Honoré was under a warrant of arrest.

The procedure involving the 5th co-accused, another member of government, former Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Henri Engoulou who is now deceased was simply dropped.

They were accused to have embezzled in 2004, the sum of FCFA 1,070 billion within the framework of recovering CFA 3,637 billion given out by the Barry Company to the state of Cameroon.