Judge Who Slammed Life Jail On Forjindam Resigns!

- Denounces Hierarchy For Dictating Verdict

By IO Fossung

Magistrate Kenmoe Emmanuel, the Judge who slammed a life jail sentence to Zacheus Mungwi Forjindam, former Director of Chantier Naval, has resigned. According to the French daily, Le Messager of Friday August 17, 2012, No.3658, Magistrate Kenmoe who had been president of a college of judges handling the Forjindam, Nguini Effa and Etonde Ekotto embezzlement cases has withdrawn. The French paper pinpointed how when the Nguini Effa matter came up last week, it was a different judge, Magistrate Ntomb, assigned. Upon investigations, Chronicle too learnt that Magistrate Kenmoe’s resignation was to detest the way the ruling/verdict of the Forjindam life jail came about.

Magistrate Kenmoe, accordingly to reports had to be imposed to read out a verdict, which did not reflect the realities of the court. According to Le Messager, he merely had to succumb to the dictates of hierarchy. Yet, to avert a re-occurrence, decided to quit: ‘il n’a pas supporté que Yaounde lui impose ce verdict qui ne reflectait pas les convictions de mon college”, Le Messager writes, quoting Kenmoe.

Worthy to note that last July 20, 2012, a day after the Littoral court of appeal slammed a 15 year jail term on Forjindam’s appeal, the Wouri high court doled out another veridict. The college of judges at whose head was magistrate Kenmoe Emmanuel slammed a life jail sentence on Forjindam.

According to a source, the verdict had been imposed by Yaounde. That even though Magistrate Kenmoe hesitated to read it out, other members of his team allegedly forced him to do so. Since then, Chronicle gathered that Kenmoe has not been able to come to term with his conscience and the norms governing his vow as a magistrate. Accordingly, he prefers to be transferred out of the big courts in Douala, so as to adequately exercise what the tenets of his profession entails.

Last week’s revelation, has thus brought into questioning the authenticity of the arrests of top government officials under the “Sparrow Hawk Operation”. Are they genuinely arrested or simply scape-goated to settle scores? Following Chronicle’s inventory in court proceedings on Forjindam matter, the report of the supreme state audit cleared him of any embezzlement at Chantier Naval.

The Life Jail Sentencing

The Wouri High Court in slamming a life prison sentence on Forjindam and Ngwang depended entirely on the allegations of Antoine Bikoro and Atouga Edene levelled on Forjindam and Ngwang. According to the judgment of the Wouri High Court, the suppliers that benefited from the 12 cheques signed by Forjinadm and certified by Ngwang to the tune of FCFA 206, 699, 111 did not exist. This was really surprising because during the appeal of Forjindam that took place 48 hours before in the Wouri Appeal Court, the court duly established that the suppliers existed and acquitted Forjindam on those charges. The Wouri High Court did not bother to question why Charles Kooh II certified the accounts of 2003 and 2004 without reserve and did not equally make any case out of the fact that both Charles Kooh II, the auditor and Louis Claude Nyassa, the  Board chairman refused to testify against Forjindam and Ngwang in court. It was the same Charles Kooh II who in 2006 was arrested and sent to Kondengui central prison for malpractice, embezzling public funds, producing false reports and distorting accounting facts at another state corporation that hired him, that has finally send Forjindam to prison in yet another controversial audit.  The court also ignored the report of the Auditors of the Supreme State Audit that controlled Chantier Naval in 2003 and 2006 and certified the accounts declaring that there was no embezzlement there. Analysts are asking why the court could ignore the control reports of statutory organs like internal and external auditors that are regulated by law and the report of the Supreme State Audit to rely on a report of an unrecognised private auditor.

Forjindam’s Original Trial

Forjindam was thrown into pre-trial detention on May 7, 2008. According to the statutes he was supposed to appear in court within 6 months. But within that period there was nobody who showed up as the plaintiff that took him to court. His pre-trial detention was prolonged for another six months and he had to appear in court in 2009. Meanwhile on November 3, 2008, Antoine Bikoro Alo’o, the Interim DG filed a suite to the State Attorney against Forjindam claiming that during a routine internal audit executed by Atouga Edéné, Chief of the Treasury Department of Chantier Naval’s Financial Department, it was realised that the former DG, Zaccheus Forjindam had signed 12 cheques to the tune of FCFA 206, 699,290 as payment to suppliers of Chantier Naval without justification receipts. Mr. Atouga Edene who affected the said internal audit affirmed that it was a secret mission entrusted to him by Antoine Bikoro, reasons why his immediate bosses, Mr NDOUMBE Jean LeBON and the Director of Finance, Mr Jean Simon NGWANG, though on duty were not informed. It was a teleguided mission and Atouga Edene executed it to precision, yet he forgot that in 2003 and 2004 he was the person charged for verifying all bank transactions of Chantier Naval and if the payments were fraudulent why did he not signal at that moment? He decided to work alone and forwarded his report to the Interim DG, Antoine Bikoro without following the normal procedure prescribed by his hierarchy.

In the report, Atouga Edene accused his immediate boss, the Director of Finance, Jean Simon Ngwang of conniving with Forjindam in the signing of the 12 cheques. The Interim DG in all normal and functionary systems would have queried Jean Simon Ngwang to explain the accusations against him, but since he was looking for ways to nail him and Forjindam, he went straight to court without giving them any chance to explain the authenticity of the cheques. Antoine Bikoro did not notify the members of the Board about his decision to go to court. He did not equally ask the External Auditor Charles Kooh II that represented the American auditing firm, PRICE WATER HOUSE COOPERS why he certified the 2003 and 2004 with such irregularities.

Genesis Of Forjindam’s Problems

Had Forjidam been a lazy person as most appointed state functionaries, he would not have been in prison today. He is paying the price of hard work and commitment of bailing out the economy of Cameroon through exemplary performances at Chantier Naval. It could be stated without fear of contradiction that Forjindam’s problems started when the Head of State, Paul Biya publicly congratulated him in his end of year state of the nation address. Immediately the Head of State congratulated Forjindam for taking Chantier Naval from a limping structure to a vibrant institution that attracted international acclaim and clientele, many people who hitherto ignored Chantier Naval and Forjindam now turned their attention to that structure. Their problem was to evict Forjindam from Chantier Naval, thinking that their mere being appointed to run Chantier Naval was to put them on focus and attract the attention of the Head of State. Those who had this envy did not know that the Head of State congratulated Forjindam because he was hard working and was doing a great job at Chantier Naval. A purportedly Sawa clique swung into action with principal mission being to eject Forjindam from Chantier Naval. The principal actors positioned Antoine Bikoro Alo’o as the field marshal to execute such a wish.

Antoine Bikoro Alo’o who was working with SNH that had majority shares in Chantier Naval through the backwash support of Adolphe Moudiki and Louis Claude Nyassa was appointed at the end of 2007 and he took up duty in January 2008 as Deputy General Manager in charge of Financial Affairs. This was the beginning of the end of Forjindam’s reign in Chantier Naval. To draw sympathy and cajole the unsuspecting workers, Antoine Bikoro decided to constantly be at work shaking hands with drivers and chatting just with everybody. Most of the workers who were gullible thought that Antoine Bikoro could make a good General Manager that would greatly improve on their working conditions. They fell in his trap and started coveting him to replace Forjindam. Just four months after Bikoro took up functions, Forjinadm was on May 7, 2008, sacked on a framed up charge and immediately incarcerated in the New Bell prison. Antoine Bikoro who had been lying in wait was appointed as Interim General Manager and the workers carried him shoulder high celebrating as if he had won an election or a match. While that single act signalled the demise of Forjindam, it equally signalled the plummeting into oblivion of Chantier Naval under Bikoro.