By Francis Tim Mbom
The representative of the Bar Council President in the Southwest, Barrister Innocent Bonu, and proprietor of a snack bar and restaurant in Limbe, GALAXY, has been dragged to court for unlawful occupancy.
In a suit, LM 81/ 2005, filed before the Limbe Magistrate Court on June 12, 2005, the plaintiff, Cameroon Printing and Publishing Company Ltd, Limbe, holds that the proprietor of GALAXY had between the period April 1, 2004, to February, 2006, been illegally occupying the premises that housed the GALAXY.
The plaintiff is claiming a total of FCFA 3.479 million; 3.4 million being unpaid rents the plaintiff holds had accumulated over a 34-month period the defendant had been "illegally" occupying the premises, and FCFA 79,027 being unpaid electricity and water bills.
The court began hearing testimonies, Tuesday, October 17 from the plaintiff who was represented by George Tita M.
Tita told the court that the Cameroon Printing and Publishing Company, CPPC Ltd, with the Board Chairman as Nfon Mukete, Paramount Ruler of Kumba, were owners of the premises where GALAXY, now closed, had been operating until February, this year.
He said in 1992, they leased out the premises to one Barnabas Nguchi for him to run some business. A year later, Nguchi quit and they leased it out to another tenant, Edouard Ayuk for a period of ten years. He told the court that their agreement with Ayuk was to terminate on April 1, 2004.
Tita told the court that after April 1, 2004, when their contract with Ayuk was due to fold up, they just discovered that Barrister Bonu had become the new tenant in their company property without their knowledge or agreement.
Tita also furnished the court with a land certificate of the disputed premises and a certificate as proof of the fact that CPPC Ltd was a duly registered company and owner of the said premises.
Barrister Samson Oru of Oru Law Firm, Limbe, appeared for the plaintiff while Barrister Gordon Ngu Mwambo was counsel for the defendant, Bonu.
Barrister Ngu argued that the registration documents for the company was registered a year after the matter against his client had already been filed in court.He sought to know from Tita if their company ever had any tenancy agreement with his client, which the plaintiff answered in the negative.
Tita also presented water and electricity bills to the court; bills which he claimed the defendant left unpaid. But Ngu noted that the bills were not addressed to his client or to any party in the matter before the court.
He questioned the authenticity of the documents presented by the witness for the plaintiff and questioned if the plaintiff had any agreement with his client.
GALAXY Closed
A court order had closed down GALAXY early this year. The Post gathered that the plaintiff sought a court order and with the aid of bailiffs, the property of GALAXY was, sometime in February, thrown out and the bar closed.The matter was adjourned to Thursday, October 19, for hearing.
Comments