(Business in Cameroon) - The former General Secretary of the Office of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, who later became Minister of Local Administration and Decentralisation, has just been sentenced to 20 years without parole by the Supreme Court. This verdict pronounced on 18 May 2016 in the morning follows an appeal filed by the legal counsel of Mr. Marafa, after the 25 years sentence pronounced against him by the Special Criminal Court (TCS) on 22 September 2012.

Arrested then imprisoned since April 2012, the ex-Secretary of the Office of the President, who has always claimed to be innocent and denounces a political score-settling, was found guilty of complicity in the embezzlement of approximately FCfa 24 billion by TCS, special court set up in Cameroon to track down corrupt individuals with access to public funds.

Concretely, the Cameroonian justice is accusing Marafa Hamidou Yaya of “intellectual complicity” with Yves Michel Fotso, former MD of the public airline, then instructed by the State to purchase a plane for Head of State’s travels. However, the USD 31 million made available to this Cameroonian businessman also sentenced in the same case, disappeared without the plane being purchased.

BRM