Cameroon: Iya Mohamed, ex-General Director of Sodecoton, sentenced to 15 years in prison
(Agence Ecofin) - The Special Criminal Court (Tribunal Spécial Criminel – TCS) sentenced, on 3rd September 2015, Iya Mohamed, ex-General Director of Sodecoton, to 15 years of imprisonment, for embezzling public funds. The legal advisers of the ex-boss of the flagship of the agricultural industry in North Cameroon have already announced that they will make an appeal to the Supreme Court to either reduce or overturn this sentence.
The ex-Director, with Mahamat Karagama, ex-Sales Director of the company and Christophe Mbaiougam, officer at Sodecoton (both received life sentences) will have to jointly pay a fine of FCfa 12 billion.
Iya Mohamed and about 10 of his co-workers were taken to court in a joint action for embezzling over FCfa 11 billion. These financial misappropriations were revealed in a report from the State Higher Control institution (Contrôle Supérieur de l’Etat), which investigated on the management of Sodecoton between 2005 and 2009.
Before the verdict of TCS on 3rd September 2015, the Budget and Financial Disciplinary Council of the State Higher Control had already condemned Iya Mohamed, during its 27 March 2013, to be stripped of his rights for 7 years.