Michel Fotso’s Ill health prompts adjournment

Counsel for the former General Manager of the defunct national carrier on Thursday, December 17, 2015, told the Special Criminal Court that he was hospitalised.

The second trial involving Yves Michel Fotso, ex-General Manager of Camair, the defunct national airline, came up for hearing at the Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court, SCC, on Thursday, December 17, 2015. However, not much progress was made because counsel for Yves Michel Fotso informed the court that he was in hospital. Though they did not say what he was suffering of or where he was hospitalised, the court later ruled that the matter be adjourned to January 20, 2016.

Yves Michel Fotso on November 6, 2014, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraudulently obtaining 18.9 billion FCFA from 2000 to 2002. The suit, filed by Camair’s Liquidation Committee and the State of Cameroon, says the sum comprised 4,051,209,866 FCFA, 4,606,130,515 FCFA, and 8,934,203,742 FCFA, which was compensation for the famous Boeing 747 ‘Combi’ aircraft as well as 1,400,000,000 FCFA, representing the worth of the wreck of the aircraft.

On Monday, May 25, 2015, the trial witnessed a mild drama when counsel for Michel Fotso, argued for the dropping of charges against him. But both the Advocates General and counsel for the civil claimant, asked the court presided by Mr. Justice Moukoury Francis and assisted by Mr. Justice Jean Claude Michel Nana and Mrs. Justice Zibi Nsoe, to reject the defence’s application. The Advocates General were Taghim Jean Claude and Ngoupa Napoleon. According to the civil claimant and prosecution, the accused’s request for dropping of charges could only be considered if he applied to the Minister of Justice after reimbursing the amount he embezzled before the start of the trial.

 But in the case at hand, they argued, Yves Michel Fotso had simply made known his intention to reimburse, though he also applied for charges against him to be dropped. In response, counsel for the accused pointed out what they saw as inconsistencies in the arguments of the prosecution, recalling that in the first phase of the same trial, an agreement had already been reached between the accused and the Legal Department.

Thus, it was not simply the mention of intention to reimburse, but honouring the agreement by paying in 250 million FCFA, Fotso’s lawyers argued. They pointed out that their client did not continue with the reimbursement because his bank accounts were frozen, though he offered to pay in kind. The former Camair GM’s counsel therefore pleaded with the court to defreeze his accounts in order to enable him continue with the reimbursement. The court later refused to defreeze the accounts or to drop charges against Fotso. He took the matter to the Supreme Court and lost.