Confiscation, eviction from land in Yaounde: BAT Cameroun cries foul, says act scaring foreign investors.

It situated at the heart of Bastos neighbourhood in the nation’s political capital city, Yaounde.

The company says the attempt to seize its land will not only soil the image of the Cameroon on the international scene but will also scare foreign investors from investing and carrying out development projects in the country. 

The confiscation and eviction from the land was the subject of a court case Thursday July 11, at the Court of First Instance of Yaounde.

When the case was called up by the presiding judge, lawyers of BAT Cameroun identified themselves. The team was led by Barrister Twengembo.

From The Guardian Post findings, the matter was withdrawn due to some irregularities in the procedure. 

According to BAT defense lawyers, one of the issues that led to the withdrawal of the case was the wrongful attribution of the court’s name by the complainant. 

“We were called to court today for eviction. Those individuals who now have land titles on that land, dragged our client to court to evict the client,” Barrister Roland Abeng, a member of the BAT Cameroon’s defense counsel, explained to the press. 

The legal luminary further explained that: “We were shocked that when the matter was called up, the same lawyer for our opponents, requested the matter be struck off the court’s list. There were so many defects on the court writ and I am sure that it is because of the pressure that we have been putting that they had to do so”. 

Citing defects on the writ, Barrister Roland Abeng clarified that “the court on the writ was ‘Tribunal de Premiere Instance de Mfoundi’. There was something wrong because you have two courts of first instance in Yaounde: the Court of First Instance Centre Administrative of Yaounde and the Court of First Instance of Ekounou-Yaounde. What you have for Mfoundi is the Tribunal de Grand Instance of Mfoundi”. 

Barrister Abeng insisted that: “There is no court as ‘Tribunal de Premiere Instance de Mfoundi’ and that alone makes that writ inadmissible. Our opponents knew we were going to raise that, which is one of the reasons it was thrown off”. 

Denounces ploy

While acknowledging that the matter could still be called up in court, Barrister Abeng denounced the ploy to deprived the company of her rightful ownership of the parcel of land. 

He narrated that an initial appeal had been filed at the Ministry of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, MINDCAF, requesting two hectares to be attributed to the communities of Mvog-Balla and Mvog-Ekobena. 

He, however, said their client was shocked to discover a ministerial decision attributing about four hectares, up from the initial two hectares requested. 

In addition, the defense counsel noted that for the past six months, there have been maneuvers by the opposing parties to further snap off the company’s remaining piece of land of about five hectares and a subsequent eviction from the developed land housing the company. 

“We thought the land demanded will be given to the communities but now who finally has the land? It has been given to over 30 individuals with private land titles established within three days,” Barrister Abeng observed, adding that: “You and I take years to establish our land titles but, on this transaction, we see individuals have land titles in the heart of Yaounde in less than three days after the authorisation of the minister without paying a franc to the state treasury”. 

Consequences on investment 

According to Barrister Abeng, the unprecedented situation undermines the legal security climate and development drive advocated by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya.

“Some time ago, we had a company whose bank accounts were closed. Today it is BAT and we don’t know which other company will be affected. That attractiveness of this country with regards to governance and the ease of doing business goes down every day,” he stated. 

“It is my fear that tomorrow it will be difficult for these investors to come back,” he added. 

BAT ambitious project for country in jeopardy

Another member of the defense counsel, Barrister Serge Zangue, explained that BAT Cameroon had engaged a deal with a partner called Balance View, to develop what is known in development jargons as Mixed-use project.

The project consisted of constructing an ultramodern commercial centre comprising accommodation, leisure and other facilities. 

This project which was envisage to be the biggest in the subregion, was perturbed by the dispute over the land and scared off the investor from developing the project. 

“We had presented the project to several authorities of the country like the trade minister who made sure that we presented it to the highest authorities in the country. When we got to the MINDCAF, we realised that some people had fabricated court judgements on the land. The partner decided to abandon the project and conditioned their return on the rectification of the dispute,” Barrister Zangue asserted.

“We went back to the international market and found another investor who was ready to continue the project. It was at this point that there was acceleration of maneuvers by the opponents for our client’s eviction through ministerial decisions and court decisions,” he ensued, adding that: “We saw how in a day the court could render a verdict, and that land titles are established in a day”. 

He confessed that BAT Cameroun has engaged the necessary administrative, legal and diplomatic actions to prevent the expropriation of the land.

The lawyer regretted that the “illegal actions” further undermine an ongoing transaction to get a foreign investor to facilitate the commercial development of the land with an anticipated foreign direct investment of €600 million (about 393.9 billion FCFA) into the country.

The investment is also expected to generate significant revenue for the State, and provide thousands of jobs in addition to the already 16,000 Cameroonians BAT Cameroon’s operations support in its value chain, consisting of direct employees, distributors, indirect sales personnel, wholesalers, and retailers.

Over the years, BAT Cameroon has contributed to the country’s economic development in various ways, including payment of approximately 100 billion FCFA in taxes and duties over the past five years. 

At press time yesterday, we were reliably informed that the case has been reconstituted and to be heard on July 25, 2024.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3166 of Friday July 12, 2024