FCFA 37.7B suit against BICEC suffers another adjournment

The suit between a Kumba based businessman, Philip Mgbatu and the Banque Internationale Du Cameroun pour L’Epargne el le Credit (BICEC) at the Bonanjo High Court, in Douala, Littoral Region has suffered another adjournment.

The case in which the plaintiff Mgbatu is claiming CFAF 37.7billion, suffered a fourth adjournment following the absence of the defendant at the Bonanjo High Court for hearing on Thursday March 20, 2014. The plaintiff claimed to have won an American Jackpot Lottery worth CFAF 37.7billion.

The hearing of the civil claim, this reporter gathered is based on a civil claim of malicious persecution, following protracted judicial investigation and interrogations of respondents. The General Manager of BICEC is in court following allegations that the plaintiff fought and manhandled him during one of the former’s trips to Douala and Yaounde.

Philip Mgbatu after the recent adjournment told this reporter that it was in the cause of one of his several trips to Yaounde that at the instructions of the Branch Manager of BICEC, Douala that he was whisked by gendarmes, adding that despite explanations, he was detained on the orders of one Pascal Rebillard, defendant in the civil claim.

He further claimed that he was forced to sign undertaking that he no longer lays claims to the said suit. Continuing, Mgbatu added that after three days of detention, he was released following the intervention of the Attorney General of the Littoral Region and the State Counsel of Bonanjo.

In the course of his detention, he further claimed that he incurred loss and damage worth CFAF 7m, reason he added, he had been seeking legal redress till date. Meantime, the case where the plaintiff is claiming 40billion against defendants BICEC and the American financial institution CITI bank is at the level of the Fako High Court Buea South West region.

The Bonanjo case would be heard again on Thursday June 19, 2014.