Cameroon: the judicial harassment of opponents of Samuel Eto'o

Samuel Eto'o has been contested since his election as president of Fecafoot. The ex-international is regularly attacked by his opponents.

Are Samuel Eto'o's legal problems in Spain catching up with the former footballer? Elected at the head of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), the ex-international had to face a sling launched by his opponents at the time. The Cameroon Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSC) and several former members of the 2019 Fecafoot General Assembly, led by Balla Ongolo, had requested the cancellation of Samuel Eto'o's mandate with an appeal filed a year ago. year before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Because on June 20, 2022, the Spanish justice sentenced the former Barcelona player to 22 months in prison for tax evasion. Samuel Eto'o then reached an agreement with the Spanish prosecutor's office, as other players like Lionel Messi had done before him. For sentences of less than two years, convicts without a criminal record are not obliged to serve their sentence.

But for opponents of the president of Fecafoot, it was blessed bread. According to them, the conviction of Eto'o, even after agreement with the Spanish justice, should prevent the ex-international from being Spanish. The plaintiffs rely on article 36 of the statutes of Fecafoot. According to the texts, “any candidate for the post of member of the Executive Committee of Fecafoot must (…) not have been sentenced to a final custodial sentence without suspension of more than three months” or “to a final custodial sentence accompanied by a simple suspended sentence or with probation for more than six months”.

Has the long procedure weakened Eto'o? Legally, no. “If we follow the texts to the letter, Eto'o was not sentenced to a 'private' sentence since he was not imprisoned, summarized a Cameroonian lawyer. Moreover, the sentence was pronounced when he was no longer a candidate but elected”. In other words, the president of Fecafoot did not risk much.

Despite everything, Eto'o's adversaries are determined to use all possible remedies. The former member of the federation's Executive Committee, Guibaï Gatama, estimated last August that Eto'o "is no longer president of Fecafoot since his conviction on June 20, 2022 to 22 months in prison for tax evasion in Spain. , by virtue of the combined provisions of articles 36 and 47 of the statutes of Fecafoot”.

Shouting loud and clear that he no longer recognizes the president of the football federation for almost a year, Guibaï Gatama also brought the case before the CAS. This time for being unjustly excluded from the Executive Committee of Fecafoot.

Since December 2021, Eto'o will have spent more time in the courts than at Fecafoot...