AlQa'dah 6, 1433, Sep 22, 2012, SPA -- A court in Cameroon on Saturday sentenced former presidential hopeful and senior minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya to a 25-year jail term on embezzlement charges related to the botched purchase of a presidential plane in 2004, Reuters reported. The court handed down the sentence early on Saturday morning after a marathon overnight trial. The court handed the same sentence to Yves Michel Fotso, former director of defunct state air transport company CAMAIR. Hamidou Yaha was minister of territorial administration until he was sacked in December in a cabinet reshuffle by President Paul Biya. He was widely believed to harbour ambitions to succeed the 79-year-old Biya. The court in the capital Yaounde found the two guilty of embezzling 24 billion CFA francs ($47.52 million) that was meant for the purchase of the presidential plane called "Albatross". In letters published after he was arrested in April, Hamidou Yaha denied he participated in any attempt to embezzle public funds and said he was a victim of a political plot. -- SPA
