Verdict expected today in the ADC case

After Charles Metouck, former DG of Sonara, sentenced this week to 15 years imprisonment, other personalities could be sentenced on Friday as part of Operation Sparrowhawk, a name given to the operation "of sanitizing the public".

This particular case is of the Public Prosecutor and State of Cameroon - Airports of Cameroon (ADC) against Roger Ntongo Onguéné, former DG of the institution and his co-defendants.

La Nouvelle Expression states that "the case was called for the first time on Jan. 14, 2015 before the Special Criminal Court (SCC). Ten months later, almost all the processes were observed. It remained only the last and most important process, the verdict, but for some problems with the collegiality of the court, the hearing was postponed to this Friday."

The newspaper recalls that the trial started with a simple denunciation seven years ago. "In 2008, the National Financial Investigation Agency (Anif) observed irregular and fraudulent outflow of funds of Airports of Cameroon. Meanwhile, a commission was being conducted to appraise the work of the Director General Ntongo Onguéné Roger. The audited period ran from 1 August 2003 to 31 December 2007," wrote the independent daily.

After investigation and arrest of Mr. Ntongo Onguéné the prosecution held several charges against the eight accused: "Among which can be listed without being exhaustive, the misappropriation of public funds (DDP), coercion and attempted coercion, manufacturing evidence. The damage suffered by the state is estimated, according to the Ministry, at more than three billion CFA francs," says La Nouvelle Expression.

The main accused who is charged with the alleged misappropriation of the sum of 1 093 000 000 000 CFA francs is the former Dg of ADC who will this Friday, except further extension, be convicted.