Cameroon: Supreme Court adjourns ruling on the Zacchaeus Forjindam affair

Zacchaeus Mungwe Forjindam has to wait a little longer to know his fate in one of his two appeals at the Supreme Court in Yaounde. The former General Manager of the Cameroon Shipyard and Industrial Engineering was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the Littoral Court of Appeal in 2012 for embezzling about 350 million FCFA. A seven-judge jury from the Specialised Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, January 19, 2016, announced the removal of the matter from its rooster, promising to notify Forjindam and counsel of the next hearing “in the coming days.” Forjindam was present in court, accompanied by a host of family members. 

Mr. Justice Mvondo Evezo’o, President of the Specialised Bench, who announced the adjournment, did not however give any reasons. Reacting to the ruling, Barristers Baombe Paul and Djoubairou Ousmanou, both counsel for Forjindam, expressed disappointment, saying they have been waiting for a decision since filing the appeal in 2012. They recalled that the matter was called for the first time in 2013 and later removed from the rooster because the court needed time to study the appeal before making its decision. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus Mungwe Forjindam faces at least two other corruption trials at the Supreme Court, including an appeal against another conviction.