A cooking pot maker will spend 12 years in prison and be liable for 18 years of payments after being found guilty of unearthing and misappropriating 1.2km of optical fibre cable worth FCFA 74 million (US$1.29 million).
Police investigations revealed the cable, snatched by Djibril Traoré in Yaounde on April 18, belonged to the nation’s major telecoms company, Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL). Because it was worth more than FCFA 50 million it was brought before the Special Criminal Court.
Malian-born Traoré originally pleaded guilty, but his legal counsel Barrister Emaha asked the court to convert his plea to not guilty, citing the absence of fraudulent intention as required by Section 184 of the Penal Code. The request was refused.
Advocate General Taghim Jean Claude revealed Traoré was caught with stolen cables by the Rapid Intervention Unit of the Police.
Traoré was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay CAMTEL FCFA 74,551,568 as well as material damages and FCFA 2 million for economic damages. He also faces legal costs of FCFA 414,572 and will suffer 18 years privation of liberty in case of non-payment.
