Figuil Council Trial: Haman Amos jailed 10 years

The former Council Treasurer was on June 22, 2015, found guilty by the Special Criminal Court.

After six months of trial at the Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court, SCC, 59-year-old Haman Amos, the former Treasurer of Figuil Council in the North Region, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on Monday, June 22, 2015.

The trial team was led by Mrs. Justice Eloundou Virginie, accompanied by Mr. Justice Nina Galina and Mr. Justice Louis Claude Nyassa. The Advocate General was Mr. Justice Tchoussi André.

Reading the judgement, Mrs. Justice Eloundou Virginie declared Haman Amos guilty of embezzling FCFA 42.3 million. Earlier, before the court went on a 30-minute recess to decide the sentence after declaring the accused guilty, counsel for the State, Barrister Bodiong Thomas, asked for the reimbursement by Haman of the amount embezzled plus FCFA 5 million as losses caused Figuil Council.

On his part, Advocate General Tchoussi André demanded at least a 10-year imprisonment for the accused; while Haman Amos’ counsel, Barrister Nkoa Elie Magloire, pleaded for mitigating circumstances.

He argued that Haman deserved this as a first-time offender. Haman Amos, who was given the opportunity to say something, was lost for words, except to repeat that the shortfall in his financial management of Figuil Council during his tenure from August 2010 to March 2014 was not his making.

Reacting to the verdict, Barrister Bodiong Thomas said he was entirely satisfied with it, while Barrister Nkoa Elie Magloire indicated his client’s intention to appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court. Charged with embezzling FCFA 59 million, Haman Amos was finally found guilty of a shortfall of FCFA 42.3 million in Figuil Council’s finances.

In the course of the trial, the differences in audit reports were pointed out by the defence. There were reportedly four reports with different amounts after the joint Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation team audited Haman Amos’ management.

For example, Semdi Soulaye, a Maroua-based charted accountant who was commissioned by the SCC to look at the audit reports first said Haman Amos had embezzled over FCFA 100 million, but later reneged, saying in a second report that the missing amount was only FCFA 140,000. A Treasury Controller by training, Haman Amos, a father of 14, has been in custody at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaounde during the trial.