Supreme Court: Yaya, Fotso appeal adjourned

The first appeal hearing in the trial of Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Secretary General at the Presidency, Yves Michel Fotso, former General Manager of the defunct national carrier, Cameroon Airlines, Camair, and several others, held at the Supreme Court in Yaounde on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Marafa and Fotso were alongside others each sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on September 12, 2012, for embezzlement of about 21 Billion FCFA meant for the purchase of a presidential aircraft, the Bbjet 2.

Leading a seven-person panel of judges, the Chief Justice, Daniel Mekobe Sone, announced that the court received a letter from counsel to Yves Michel Fotso, seeking the adjournment of the matter. He advanced as reason the poor health of his client. Similarly, counsel to Marafa, Barrister Patrice Monthé, took the floor to also request that given his client’s poor health, he could not sit through the trial, though he was present in court.

Barrister Alice Nkom, another counsel to Marafa, later explained to Cameroon Tribune that their client has had a bout of malaria in the past three weeks. With no objection by the Advocate General and other lawyers to the requests, Chief Justice Daniel Mekobe Sone adjourned the trial to April 5, 2016, at 10 am.

They were sentenced in 2012 to 25 years imprisonment for embezzlement of funds intended for the purchase of a presidential jet.