According to the Minister of State Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the President of the Republic reiterates his agreement to stop the prosecution of the former Minister of Water and Energy.

Basile Atangana Kouna could soon be free. In a letter addressed to the Minister of State, Minister of Justice, Custodian of the Seals Laurent Esso, the Minister of State Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic “reflects the high instructions of the Head of State” Paul Biya.

According to Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the President of the Republic reiterates “his agreement to stop the prosecution of Basile Atangana Kouna by indicating that the use of Article 64 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is not relevant in this case, the person concerned has fully returned the body of the crime,” reads a copy of the correspondence circulating on the web,insinuating that the accused has refunded the amount of money he was accused of personalizing.

Article 64 (3) of the code of criminal procedure provides that “when the public action has been stopped (…), the examining magistrate or the court of judgement shall continue the investigation or examination of the case on the civil action”.

As a reminder, the former member of government was found guilty of the crime of interest for having leased the vehicles of the company Trinity Sarl to Camwater. For this, the former Director General of Camwater (2006-2012) was sentenced to three years in prison on 22 September 2021.

The decision rendered by the Special Criminal Court also requires him to pay a fine of 500,000 CFA francs. He had to pay Camwater the sum of 11 million 91 thousand 210 CFA francs, representing the remaining costs of renting the vehicles. In addition, he was ordered to pay damages of 16 million CFA francs, costs of 2 million 532 thousand CFA francs, and forfeitures for a period of 5 years.