Crédit Foncier Case - Collection of contributions examined

Courtroom I of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in Yaounde was yesterday, April 21, 2014, once more the arena for legal tussle as lawyers of former Finance Minister, Polycarpe Abah Abah, cross-examined prosecution witness, Jean Nzie Nzie. Upon questioning by lead defence counsel, Barrister Jean Calvin Billong, the witness said the mission that he led to audit the management of the Housing Loan Scheme (Crédit Foncier du Cameroun) on behalf of Supreme State Audit Office in 2002, was instructed by the Ministry of Finance.

Through queries, the mission established in its report that the Directorate of Taxes effectively collected contributions due Credit Foncier du Cameroun (CFC) and deposited the said sums while the national treasury centralised and transferred the contributions to the beneficiary's account in the national treasury. Barrister Jean Calvin Billong then sought to establish through another line of questioning that the contributions were effectively collected by treasurers at the Directorate of Taxes, but who were under the responsibility of the National Treasury. Thus, he deduced, the National Treasury collected the contributions. Citing as example, Barrister Billong said when a taxpayer pays his taxes, he receives a receipt acknowledging payment stamped by the treasury. He also brandished two legal instruments showing that the responsibility for collecting the said CFC contributions was given to the National Treasury.

"These instruments existed but we noticed during the audit that between 1999 and 2007, there was a certain malfunctioning for the Directorate of Taxes was effectively collecting contributions due State corporations. This was normalised by the 2008 Finance Law which centralised all payments into the treasury," said Jean Nzie Nzie.

As at press time, Barrister Jean Calvin Calvin Billong was pursuing the cross-examination of the prosecution witness who is testifying in the trial pitting the State of Cameroon and CFC against Polycarpe Abah Abah, former CFC General Manager, Joseph Edou and several others. The accused are charged with embezzling over FCFA 4.9 billion between 1999 and 2004.