The cross-examination of the ex-Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, ended in chaos at the Special Criminal Court on October 3, 2013.
Defence counsels in the case pitting the State of Cameroon (RIGC Project) against Serges Kaptue Tagne and co-accused staged a walk out yesterday October 3 at the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde.
During the cross-examination of one of the witnesses, former Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, the defence counsels frowned at the fact that the witness could not clearly answer the questions which they asked in a bid to prove the innocence of their client, Serges Kaptue Tagne. Most of the barristers said during the cross-examination that they were astonished because each time they asked a question, the former minister spent time saying he was not minister at the time and that he was not the right person to answer.
Worse still, the defence counsels said they could not continue the court hearing in a situation where each time they asked a question, the Head of the Panel of Judges hearing the case, Mr Justice Michel Jean-Claude Onana, told them they were turning-around and asking questions that were not important or could not be answered by the witness in question or was not beneficial to the person they were defending.
As such, after two hours of cross-examining the former Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, over several issues such as the bank account at Afriland First Bank from which money was said to have been embezzled; over the convention between the Ministries of Forestry and Wildlife, Finance and CAMDEV (a business enterprise); and over the RIGC Project (Project to reinforce initiatives for the community management of forestry and wildlife resources), the defence lawyers first of all got into an argument that showed their discontentment over the manner in which the head of judges kept interrupting their cross-examination thus giving their clients the impression that they are not capable to defend them. Later, the defence lawyers abandoned the hearing and walked out of the courtroom.
Mr Justice Michel Jean-Claude Onana took down the statements of the defence counsels and continued the hearing in which he asked the accused if they had something to say. Thereafter Mr Justice Michel Jean-Claude Onana said cross-examination had ended and the case had to continue with the re-examination of the witness. The civil party said they did not have any question to re-examine the witness. Hence, hearing on the matter was adjourned to October 14 for further statements from different parties involved in the case.
The accused are appearing before the Special Criminal Court to answer charges of fraud and complicity in the embezzlement of State funds amounting to FCFA 1.7 billion.
