Corrupt Cameroonian judges face disciplinary sanctions –report
Mon, 5 Dec 2011 17:28 GMT
Cameroon supporters hold flags during the World Cup 2010 qualifying soccer match against Morocco in Fes November 14, 2009. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante
By George Fominyen
DAKAR (TrustLaw) - Cameroon’s vice-prime minister and minister of justice says hundreds of judges in the West African country are facing disciplinary sanctions, Mutations newspaper reported on Monday.
Amadou Ali was responding to members of parliament who wanted to know what is being done to fight corruption in the country’s judiciary.
“Every profession has its bad apples,” the minister said. “More than 300 disciplinary files are under study and it is the supreme council of the magistracy that will decide on each case,” he told parliamentarians.
The supreme council of the magistracy is Cameroon’s highest decision-making body in the judiciary. It is headed by the President of the Republic Paul Biya and decides on disciplinary sanctions, promotion and demotion of judges.
Corruption is pervasive in Cameroon and a large number of Cameroonians perceive the judiciary as being highly corrupt, according to the Transparency International Global Corruption Report 2010.
Several personalities currently on trial for alleged corruption preferred to spend large sums of money to corrupt judges instead of admitting their guilt, Ali said.
New laws creating a special court to handle graft cases and providing strict deadlines for security officers, prosecutors and judges working on such matters would reduce delays and bureaucracy that favours such practices, the Cameroon justice minister said.
He also told parliamentarians that the government had recovered more than $3 million from people who had misappropriated government funds, as part of an ongoing anti-graft campaign, the paper reported.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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