CRTV/Belinga Hearing Adjourned for More Investigations

A widow, Belinga née Mengue Blandine, is accused of embezzling FCFA 100 million.

The case pitting the State of Cameroon (Cameroon Radio and Television) against Mrs Belinga née Mengue Blandine was again yesterday, September 24 at the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde adjourned to October 14 for supplementary information to be completed. The Head of the Panel of Judges hearing the case, Mr Justice Michel Jean-Claude Onana, adjourned the case due to the fact that the complementary information requested by Legal Department from the examining magistrate was not ready.

Information indicates that the widow, Mrs Belinga née Mengue Blandine, resident in the Ekounou neighbourhood, is being accused of embezzling public funds worth FCFA 100 million. Since the matter was brought to the Special Criminal Court, the Advocate General Didier Edjisna said the Legal Department does not understand why Mrs Belinga is being accused of embezzlement given that CRTV gave her FCFA 100 million as compensation for using her land to construct the Cameroon Radio and Television Centre for Audio-Visual Professionals (CFPA) at the Ekounou neighbourhood in Yaounde.

This is why the Legal Department sent the case file back to the examining magistrate for complementary information concerning the payment because they wanted to know the basis of the payment, see documents which justify the payment and if the payment was legal, amongst many other things. Didier Edjisna said it is only when the examining magistrate must have answered the request of the Legal Department that hearing of the case will continue.

Present during yesterday's brief court session for the first time was a representative of the present General Manager of CRTV, Pie Ndemba, Technical Adviser at CRTV. Speaking to the press, he said the current General Manager was summoned to be in court and due to his busy schedule he could not attend. He said the matter at hand dates back to the 1990s. Pie Ndemba said during that time, the former General Manager paid FCFA 100 million to the widow, Mrs Belinga, and her family whose land was taken to be used by CRTV.

The Technical Adviser said when the government took Mrs Belinga's family land to be used by the State, they were not compensated. But when the Land was given to CRTV, the family requested some FCFA 510 million as compensation for their land. According to Pie Ndemba, the former General Manager thought it wise to give the family FCFA 100 million which he did, especially as the family was almost homeless in the Ekounou neighbourhood. Pie Ndemba said somebody is moving around saying the money has been embezzled by a CRTV personnel in complicity with the family.