What were the political undercurrents behind the Ports Authority verdicts?

On July 4, 2015, the Special Criminal Tribunal in Douala sentenced three senior officials of the Autonomous Port of Douala, popularly known by its French acronym PAD (Port Autonome de Douala) to prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years for alleged embezzlement.

The officials in question, Mr. Jean Marcel Dayas Mounoume, former Managing Director; Mr. Arsene Essomba Eloundou, former Deputy General Manager; and Mr. Abel Agbor Mangieb, former Director in charge of Administration and Finance and former Director in charge of Administration and Logistics, were accused of assisting or abating one Mr. Patrice Tsimi Enyegue in the embezzlement of FCFA 458 million belonging to PAD which is a state corporation.

The details of the accusations against the three could be summarised as follows:

- Making payments to settle debt owed to White Nile Corporation (WNC) by cheque in lieu and place of a wire transfer;

- Allowing Mr. Patrice Tsimi, who had no mandate, to pick up cheques belonging to WNC;

- Non-respect of payment schedule agreed upon with respect to payments made in favour of WNC;

- Non-respect of the terms or transformation of the Board resolution instructing payment of the WNC debt;

- Usage of wrong exchange rate;

- Failure to deduct taxes before making payments;

- Misinformation of the Board of Directors with respect to the facts of the case;

- Absence of an executory order on the court judgment received from France, among others.

According to facts presented during the court hearing, in 2002, two stevedoring companies, namely; Dee International and Circle Lines, who had rendered services to the PAD, transferred debts owed to them by PAD to WNC.

The amount of the initial debt was US$ 2 million and the transfer deeds were signed on behalf of WNC by one Mr. Patrice Tsimi Enyegue. The consequence of the said transfer was that, as of the date of the signature of the deed of transfer, PAD became, henceforth, indebted to WNC to the tune of US$ 2 million.

In 2003, following negotiations between WNC and PAD, the debt was reduced to US$ 1.2 million after payment by PAD of the sum of FCFA 284 million on the instructions of Mr. Tsimi who represented WNC in the said negotiations.

After several court appearances and negotiations, PAD was given four months (September 2009 to December 2009) to liquidate the entire debt of FCFA 458 million owed WNC, which payment was eventually made by PAD by cheque to Tsimi Enyegue, the official representative of WNC in Cameroon.

It should be noted here that, before effecting the payment, the then General Manager of PAD, Mr. Jean Marcel Dayas Mounoume, presented the court decision on the payment to the PAD Board of Directors for approval which the Board did.

Upon receipt of the cheque paid to him in the name of WNC, Tsimi Enyegue opened an account in his personal name with a micro-finance establishment in the name of FIFA and endorsed the cheque given him in the name of WNC to the said personal account.

This was illegal, according to current Cameroonian banking laws, but the FIFA financial establishment, in collusion with Tsimi Enyengue, cautioned the illegality and immediately the money was deposited in Tsimi’s personal account, he withdrew it promptly.

Shortly after Tsimi Enyegue appropriated the WNC money to himself, a certain Lawyer Samnick Blanchard lodged a complaint with the National Gendarmerie, supposedly on behalf of WNC praying it to help him recover the FCFA458 million allegedly owed WNC. This complaint led to the arrest and subsequent prosecution and jailing of the said PAD senior officials for collusion with Tsimi Enyegue in the embezzlement of the said FCFA458 million.

It is important to note here that, during the hearing of the said case, lawyers representing the three officials presented evidence showing that Tsimi Enyegue had been representing WNC since 2002 and that:

- Mr. Tsimi as well singed on behalf of WNC the etat de somme due. This is the document signed between PAD and WNC carrying the final amount of the debt after negotiations.

- The judgment from Paris ordering PAD to pay WNC FCFA 458 million stated in pages 11 and 13 that Mr. Tsimi was the representative of WNC. The clarification was made because the argument of PAD in Paris was that the case should be thrown out of court because all the documents which gave rise to the debt and subsequently the litigation were signed on behalf of WNC by Mr. Tsimi who had no express mandate. This was quashed and his authority to represent the company was made clear as shown above.

- As a result of the above Mr. Tsimi’s authority to represent WNC was re-established.

- If Mr. Tsimi had authority to act on behalf of WNC, why then could he not pick up their payments?

- Cheques were written out in the name of WNC and not Mr. Tsimi.

- Cheques were crossed cheques which were not transferable, how then could Mr. Tsimi open an account in his name with the said cheques?

- If there was any forgery or if anyone assisted Mr. Tsimi in appropriating the funds for himself, it was the bank and not the officials of the PAD

- Why was the bank, FIFA not part of the trial?

- At no point in the trial was it mentioned that the service which gave rise to the debt was doubtful or fictitious.

- The mandate of Mr. Samnick Blanchard purporting he was acting on behalf of WNC was proven to be fake/fraudulent.

- The said document was not accepted in evidence.

Giving evidence for the prosecution during the trial, the present General Manager of PAD, Mr. Emmanuel Etoundi Oyono, declared that PAD had paid the sum of FCFA 458 million owed WNC and the said amount was collected for and on behalf of WNC by Mr. Tsimi whom he recognised as their representative. He continued, by stating that, to PAD, the payment had been properly made and PAD was no longer indebted to WNC. He went further to state that the financial records of PAD did not show PAD was indebted to WNC. To him, there was no case of embezzlement.

After all the overwhelming evidence that there was no embezzlement involved, the question arises as to why the said PAD officials were convicted in, the first place. This is where the political angle to the case comes in. It has since been established that all the three PAD officials involved had political ambitions in their various constituencies.

Mr. Agbor Mangieb’s name had come up for mention and was actually on top of a shortlist of candidates for appointment as General Manager of Pamol Plantations Ltd. in his region of origin – Southwest. Essomba was earmarked for appointment as PAD Managing Director or to head the new port of Kribi in the same capacity.

Dayas Mounoume’s name was being floated as a possible candidate for a ministerial appointment or to head the Douala City Council. The WNC case provided the long awaited occasion by their political enemies or detractors to stop them from acceding to these specific positions and others.

One disturbing aspect of the case right now is that Dayas Mounoume and Agbor Mangieb are said to be at large now fearing for their lives. Their families confirm that since they left their homes on July 3 this year for Yaounde for the judgment, they have not been heard from. They are not in the maximum security prison, so where are they now?