Corruption case:

Gov’t hires Fru Ndi’s cousin to prosecute Iya Mohammed

By Amindeh Blaise Atabong in Yaounde         

Sama Francis: A good player who plays in every team

The government of Cameroon has solicited the services of the legal adviser of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), cum Fru Ndi’s cousin, Barrister Sama Francis to indict Iya Mohammed.

Sama Francis is one of the prosecution counsels in the case pitting the people of Cameroon and Société de Développement du Cotton, SODECOTTON versus the former general manager of SODECOTTON, Iya Mohammed and others.

Barrister Sama, unarguably one of Cameroon’s best legal minds, is not only cousin to lead opposition political leader in Cameroon, John Fru Ndi, he is member of the SDF investiture committee and has been legal adviser and defence counsel for the SDF since the party was launched in 1990. Barrister Sama Francis, it should be said, is the president of the Cameroon Bar Council.

It is not the first time government or regime barons are soliciting the services of SDF legal minds to handle corruption-related cases. In 2012 when former regime baron, Marafa Hamidou Yaya was arrested and charged with embezzlement of public funds, Marafa who as minister got mired in court cases with Fru Ndi immediately stretched his hand to the same Fru Ndi to lend him one of his party’s lawyers. In requesting for the advocate, Marafa mooted that SDF’s lawyers are more competent and more focused. Fru Ndi respondent by offering him renowned legal luminary, Kofele Kale.

Even though detractors are trying to make a mountain out of Barrister Sama’s acceptance to stand for the state of Cameroon against Iya Mohammed, an anonymous legal practitioner told The Guardian Post that as lawyer, Sama is an independent and business person whose services can be solicited by anyone at any time irrespective of political leaning. “Barrister Sama has the right to offer his services to any body who solicits his chamber. A lawyer is an independent person and owes no body any explanation before accepting to prosecute or defend a client who solicits his services,” the source sustained.

Meanwhile, Iya Mohammed and Henri Clavier; deputy general manager of SODECOTTON, Jerome Minlend; director general of Cameroon audit council, Lucien Fotso; accountant, Pierre Kaptene; attaché to the office of SODECOTTON’s general manager, Mahamat Karagama; director of sales as well as Christophe Mbaiougam, all of SODECOTTON are jointly accused of embezzling 11.293MFCFA. 

When the case came up for the second hearing at the Special Criminal Court, last Wednesday, the session was dedicated to the presentation of witnesses by all parties.

Meantime, Iya Mohammed’s lawyer, Balemaken Eugene argued that the state of Cameroon had no locus standi in the matter since the state is only a share holder in the corperation and so would have allowed only the corperation to press charges. He equally posited the Special Criminal Court is incompetent to hear the matter since it was created to handle cases of embezzlement of state funds and SODECOTTON is not purely a state cooperation.

For his part, Sama Francis was bent on the fact since the state owns majority of the shares in SODECOTTON, it was very right for the state to be a civil party to the matter. Sama told reporters that he and his colleagues were poised to defend their client (the state). He said the defence counsel was made of judicial jokers who wanted to put them off pitch before the match proper. “They wanted to put us out of the game but the referee intervened. I still have my eleven players in tact...It’s a judicial game and the debates will be interesting,” Sama noted.

The preliminary arguments and counter arguments will be addressed when the case comes up again on October 1, 2014.