Special Criminal Court - Repressive Instrument for Embezzlers

The Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso yesterday, October 15 in Yaounde said that the effective take of the Special Criminal Court was a decisive move from the preventive phase of the embezzlement of public funds to that of repression. He made a keynote speech at the inaugural session of the Special Criminal Court set by law N° 2011/028 of 14 December 14, 2011 and modified by law N° 2012/011 of 16 July 2012.

Section 2 of the law setting up the court specifies that, "The Court shall be competent to hear and determine matters, where the loss amounts to at least FCFA 50,000,000 relating to misappropriation of public funds and other related offences provided for in the Penal Code and International Conventions ratified by Cameroon." The law further states that where the loss is below FCFA 50,000,000, the Procureur General of the Special Criminal Court shall transfer the case file to the competent Procureur General.

Before the President of the Republic enacted the law setting up the court, Members of Parliament during the November 2011 session adopted it and the Justice Minister described the court as legislative response to ills noticed, particularly in relation to the misappropriation of public funds. The court with President Yap Abdou as pioneer President, will have to scrupulously implement the law with regards to the deadline for hearing and determining matters. Laurent Esso said the persistent adjournment of cases was abnormal and insisted that networks would not be permitted in handling cases as no magistrate is the owner of a judicial file. He warned against abuse of duties and obstruction of justice. Delay in delivering justice, he said, was also abnormal and insisted on the respect of the law and professional ethics. He called for the independence of the judge in performing his duties and stated that repression of crime must be properly organized. Repression of crime must not be political, he warned.