Mebara wants court to summon Boeing executives

As part of the Albatross affair, Jean Marie Atangana, former Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic requested that the special criminal court should summon the witnesses based in the USA. The former Biya acolyte made the appeal during his trial on Tuesday.

The Albatross scandal involved prominent Cameroon government officials that subsequently led to the arrest and imprisonment of a former Prime Minister His Royal Highness Chief Inoni Ephraim.

On Tuesday January 27, Jean Marie Atangana Mebara told the Special Criminal Court that his defense is based on the testimony of the executives of Boeing Company based in the USA.The former minister said, "My defense strategy will be determined by the presence of my witnesses, if they are not there, we will be forced to change strategy".

For his part, the representative of the public prosecutor explained that a letter had been addressed by the prosecutor to the Cameroon Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Department of Justice for the purpose of bringing witnesses as demanded by Atangana Mebara.

The Mebara trial process was suspended since November partly because of the lack of defense witnesses on the stand and also because of the absence of the last prosecution witness, who was to give evidence in court on Tuesday.

The hearing was postponed to February 9. Jean Marie Atangana Mebara and his co-accused Mendouga Jerome who died November 15, 2014 have been accused of embezzling $ 5 million or nearly 2.5 billion FCFA. The disputed amount was to be used to supplement a down payment of $ 4 million paid in 2001 for the acquisition of special plane for the President Paul Biya. This is however Jean Marie Atangana Mebara's third trial.