Foumane Ze, former Director of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Finance has said that Nana Isaïe has never supplied any equipment to the Douala Port. He was testifying at the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde yesterday September 25, 2013 in the case opposing the State of Cameroon (Ministry of Finance and the Douala Port) against the businessman, Nana Isaïe.
The session before a panel of judges led by the President of the Court, Yap Abdou accompanied by Mrs Justice Virginie Eloundou and Mahamat Pabar Salle, began with the verification of the prosecution counsel as well as the presentation of documents and the list of witnesses by the prosecution.
During examination-in-chief, the civil claimant, Barrister Joseph Nyaabia Bianda asked Foumane Ze to tell the court what he knew about the attempted embezzlement by Nana Isaïe. The head of the legal department related the circumstances under which Nana Isaïe told the State to pay him his money. He said the payments in question were linked to the fictitious supply of equipment by the company SFIC headed by Nana Isaïe.
As a result, the payments were confiscated by the Wouri Court of First Instance and that payments could not be possible till end of the case. When Foumane Ze left in 2012, the case had not ended. He was later surprised to find out that a letter was sent to the Minister without passing through him asking for Nana Isaïe's payment to be made. Barrister Charles Tchoungang, who claimed to be the lawyer for SFIC attempted to interrupt the first witness but was not allowed to put his defence especially as the accused was absent.
On further questioning by civil claimant, Barrister Dominique Fousse, Foumane Ze said Nana Isaïe claims to have supplied two trucks to the former ONPC that were ordered from Singapore. Foumane Ze affirmed that Nana Isaïe had never supplied any trucks to the Douala Port. He explained that a team was sent to Singapore in 2012 for investigation. The supplier in Singapore in 2012 told them that Nana Isaïe was unknown to them and they had never had any such business in Cameroon.
The second prosecution witness, Zock Atara A Ngon, also of the Ministry of Finance said the initial amount was FCFA 1.9 billion but with accrued interest the amount has gone up to FCFA 13 billion. Barrister Nyaabia recalled that the payments were made for the benefit of Nana Isaïe and Late Tchouta Moussa, former general manager of ONPC. He said SFIC headed by Nana Isaïe was the sole supplier of ONPC.
When the former general manager was about to be replaced, a protocol agreement was signed between ONPC and SFIC to pay FCFA 1.9 billion to Nana Isaïe. When a new general manager came, Nana went on to present the payments and asked for them to be paid. Unfortunately for him the new general manager wanted to know why the payments will be made the amount. Advocate General Didier Edjisna said Nana Isaïe has never appeared before the court and all documents have been produced. He thus pleaded that the court should declare Nana Isaïe guilty. The case was adjourned to October 10, 2013 for judgement.