Nana Isaïe Yet to Appear in Court

The next hearing for the Douala Port Authority case has been slated for September 25, 2013.

The second session of the case pitting the State of Cameroon (Ministry of Finance and the Douala Port) against Nana Isaïe took place at the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde yesterday September 12, 2013.

The session before a panel of judges led by the President of the Court, Yap Abdou accompanied by Mrs Justice Virginie Eloundou and Mahamat Pabar Salle, began with the verification of the State and defence counsels. Nana Isaïe is accused of attempted embezzlement of State funds. As it was the case during the last audience, the defence counsel bench was empty following the continuous absence of the accused.

It is alleged that Nana Isaïe is on the run. After the presentation of the visa from the Ministry of Justice and the list of witnesses by the civil bench, Advocate General, Didier Edjisna asked that hearing should begin in spite of the absence of Nana Isaïe. The court however asked the defence counsel to present legal documents to justify the accusation against Nana Isaïe and the witnesses who have to appear in court.

Barrister Dominque Fousse, who stood as civil claimant, asked that they should be given time to prepare the documents as prescribed by law. Barrister Joseph Nyaabia Bianda, civil claimant said the documents include, among others, the payments confiscated by the Douala Court of First Instance on May 18, 2000. He said even though the payments were confiscated, Nana Isaïe tried to deceive the vigilance of the Ministry of Finance to get paid whereas he knew that they had been confiscated.

The two witnesses of the prosecution are Foumane Ze, former Director of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and Zock Atara A Ngon, also of the Ministry of Finance. He added that even though the Ministry of Finance notified Nana Isaïe in his home and the court also notified him at the municipal council, he has never shown up in court. The case was adjourned to September 25, 2013 for the presentation of documents and the beginning of hearing.

Nana Isaïe is a businessman and contractor who is alleged not to have made any supplies in the Douala Port. According to Barrister Joseph Nyaabia, Nana Isaïe was a contractor with the former National Ports Authority (ONPC) Douala when the late Tchouta Moussa was the General Manager of ONPC. Before Tchouta Moussa was replaced, he signed an agreement between ONPC and SFIC Company headed by Nana Isaïe. According to the agreement, ONPC accepted to pay debts owed to SFIC worth FCFA 1.9 billion.

Even though the Douala Court of First Instance confiscated payments to SFIC, Nana Isaïe claimed the sum of over FCFA 4 billion to be paid by the Ministry of Finance. He was dragged to the Special Criminal Court by the Ministry of Finance for attempting to embezzle State funds. Taking hold of the matter, the Special Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Nana Isaïe on September 17, 2012.