Zaccheus Mungwe Forjindam, former
Director General of the Cameroon Shipyard and the industrial Engineering,
Chantier Naval has within two days received two devastating court judgments
that has sent quivers through the spines of his family members, sympathizers
and especially his lawyers that have all along burnt the midnight oil to proof
his innocence of the financial impropriety accusations proffered on him. The Wouri Appeal Court
slammed him a 15 year jail term on July 18, 2012 while the Wouri High Court
meted a life prison term on him on July 20, 2012. Thus within two days, his
fate has been sealed by the Douala Courts passing from an original sentence of
12 years on drummed-up charges that was on appeal to 15 years and later life
jail. This unexpected twist that has come on the heels of popular expectation
that Forjindam was to be freed is not strange to any keen observer of trials of
those who have been rightly or wrongly tagged as members of the G11. Each
member of the infamous cooked up G11 phenomenon that has been to court has seen
a series of accusations brought against him.
Interestingly, all the cases on
appeal of those considered to belong to the infamous G11, an appellation
purportedly created to settle political scores, have all seen their prison
terms increased on appeal. However, during all the appeals, most of the
accusations are dropped, yet the prison terms have always been increased,
giving away the idea that justice is out to chase the culprits for unexplained
and hidden reasons and not to render equitable justice. In most of the cases,
those accused are sentenced in piece meal with further accusations coming up
each day to ensure that the accused remain in prison. A general overview of the
cases of those accused of embezzlement, judged and sentenced and have appeal
their cases, reveals that the prison terms have always increased, despite the
fact that during the appeals, the judges drop some of the accusations raising
hope in the minds of the incarcerated and their supporters only to nail these
people at the end.
Titus Edzoa
Although Titus Edzoa was long
arrested before the advent of the G11 phenomenon, his trial has followed the
same pattern as that of the purported members of the G11. This is apparently so
because Titus Edzoa himself resigned in 1997 because he wanted to challenge the
Head of State, Paul Biya. He was arrested on drummed-up charges of embezzlement
and incarcerated. After a court case that suffered numerous adjournments, he
was given 15 years imprisonment. Titus Edzoa still nursed hopes of coming out
and continuing with his political dream. He was shot in mid flight as two years
to the end of his imprisonment; fresh accusations were proffered on him. He is
in court and the investigating magistrate has asked for the matter to start
afresh. Chances are that the new accusations will seal his fate as that
proffered on Forjindam that gave him a life jail term.
Alphonse Siyam Siwé
On December 13, 2006, 13 people
were condemned by the Bonanjo High Court for embezzlement of public funds at
the Douala Ports Authority. Alphonse Siyam Siwé, former General Manager of that
institution who was then serving as Minister of Mines and Water was sentenced
to 30 years of imprisonment for what was referred to by the collegiate of
judges that tried the case as gross embezzlement. Alphonse Siyam Siwé’s lawyers
cried foul and immediately went on appeal. The Wouri Appeal Court on June 10, 2009
instead transformed the original 30 years imprisonment of Alphonse Siyam Siwé
into life jail. Thus the appeal set a precedence and any appeal of the
judgments of the members of the purported G11 have been following the same
direction.
Edouard Etondé Ekoto
He was in the Cameroon Defense
forces and went on voluntary retirement at a very tender age. His retirement
was unexpected and the regime decided to put an eye on him. To make sure that
he was kept at bay, he was appointed Government Delegate to the Douala City
Council. As Board chairman of the Douala Ports Authority, Edouard Etondé Ekoto
was on December 13, 2006 sentenced to 10 years imprisonment alongside 13 other
co-accusers who received varied jail terms. His lawyers went on appeal and on
June 10, 2009 his prison term of 10 years was increased to 15 years. But before
his appeal went through, Edoaurd Etondé Ekoto was again dragged to court for
other charges in January 2008. He was dragged to court alongside some of his
former collaborators for embezzlement of funds at the Douala City Council.
After several adjournments that infuriated Edouard Etondé Ekoto, it was decided
that he had 15 other charges dangling over his head. Despite the abandonment of
the accusations by some of those that initiated it, the State Prosecutor
decided to hold all the abandoned charges on Etondé Ekoto. From the look of
things, it appears only a life jail term is awaiting him as a means to
completely keep him in prison.
Zaccheus Forjindam
Despite the numerous favourable
twists that characterized the Forjindam’s appeal, giving hope that he was to be
liberated, the unexpected still happened at the Wouri Appeal Court on July 18, 2012.
Forjindam was slammed a 15 year jail term. Prior to the bomb shell unleashed by
the Wouri Appeal Court,
popular expectation was that Zaccheus Mungwe Forjindam who was sentenced by the
Wouri High Court for 12 years was going to be acquitted by the Appeal Court. This
general mode and expectation emanated from the way his lawyers handled the case
during the appeal producing documents that absolve him from the accusations of
embezzlement that were meted on him. But this was not going to happen as
Forjindam was instead slammed 15 years, thus adding three years to his previous
conviction of 12 years. During the appeal trial, the State Prosecutor had asked
for a life sentence for Forjindam. The State prosecutor’s wish was
exorcised by the Wouri High Court. After sentencing him for 15 years, Forjindam
was expected to turn up in court the next day to answer other charges of
embezzlement brought against him by officials of Chantier Naval. Forjindam who
was completely devastated by the 15 years handed to him by the Wouri Appeal
Court refused to turn up for the court session that was scheduled for July 19,
2012. On July 20, 2012 the court handed him a life jail term in the case that
accused him of the embezzlement FCFA 206 million.
Interestingly, before he was
handed 15 years imprisonment and later a life jail term, some of the major
accusations of embezzlement that were levied on Forjindam and on which base the
Wouri High Court sentenced him to 12 years were dropped and instead of this
giving a leeway for Forjindam’s acquittal or a drop in his jail term, the Wouri
Appeal Court increased the number of years he has to be incarcerated. Many
judicial analysts have interpreted the judgment of the Wouri Court as a paradox of paradoxes,
especially as some co-accusers were acquitted while Forjindam was further
nailed to the cross.
Without going through the details
of the appeal and the verdict, which acquitted Forjindam of many of the
previous accusations and refunded most of his seized movable and immovable
properties, just for the Wouri High Court to slammed on him a life jail term,
it could be observed that Forjindam’s case like most of the cases have been to
chase another crime, be it imaginary or real in a bid to victimize some
particular people.
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