Why Many Family Businesses In Cameroon Do Not Survive Their Founders (Part 7)

The Effects Of The Absence Of A Successor In The Management Of The Huge Family Business That Multibillionaire, Paul SOPPO PRISO, Left Behind.

Lawyers, Magistrates, Notaries, Liquidators, And Others Have Reportedly Been Feeding Fat On The Huge  Assets That Paul SOPPO PRISO Left Behind For The Family.

On The Other Hand, The Children And Other Close Family Members Of The Late Multibillionaire Have Nothing, And Are Even Been Harassed By Some Lawyers.

Experts say the reason that the Douala court easily found a way to take over the management of the huge Family Business or estate that the business magnate, Paul SOPPO PRISO, left behind, was that he did not leave behind an official successor or successors to manage the business for the family. So when he died, there was a big vacuum. The next -of – kin, Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso, was not considered as the new manager of the Family Business. In such a situation, the other children instead wanted that the assets that their late father left behind should be shared.

Many observers are of the opinion that if Paul Soppo Priso had groomed one or some of his children, close family members or trusted outsiders as successor or successors in the management of the Family Business, and backed up with legalized documents, the new manager or managers would have after his death continued to manage the Family  Business, while the dispute drags  on in court. The Family Business would have stayed intact, and the dispute by family members or the parties involved, would have been over the sharing of annual profits made by the Family Business, and not over the sharing of assets.

The Number of Successors In The Management Of A Family Business, Depends On The Size 

It should be noted that there is no fixed number of managers that the Founder of a Family Business can groomed as successor or successors in the management of the Family Business. It depends on the size of the Family Business, but above all on the vision of the Founder. For example, the late business tycoon, Andre Sohaing, who was the Founder of the Sohaing Group that includes the famous Akwa Palace Hotel in Douala, and who is now of blessed memory, groomed one of his children, Olivier Sohaing, as successor in the management of the Family Business.

But the Patriarch, Joseph Kadji Defosso, who was Founder of the Family Business known as Kadji Group that includes the brewery, UCB, groomed a number of his children and other close family members and even some trusted non family members,, to be managers  in his large business empire. There are about 10 enterprises in the Kadji Group, and all these enterprises and their managers, are under the Kadji Group.

Lawyers, Magistrates And Others, Feeding Fat On Late Soppo Priso’s Assets

On October 15, 2024, French language newspaper with head office in Douala, LE JEUNE ENQUETEUR, published a three page investigative report on the then latest happening in the fight over the assets of the Cameroonian multibillionaire, Paul SOPPO PRISO, who passed away since 1996,   that is, almost 30 years ago.

The paper regretted that since the passing away of Paul Soppo Priso, his seven children that are supposed to inherit his assets, have never found a common ground of understanding to share the huge assets including many buildings, robber plantation, cocoa farms, and other enterprises that their late father left behind. The paper further regretted that: “CONSEQUENCE LOGIQUE, CE SONT LES AVOCATS, NOTAIRES, MAGISTRATS, ET AUTRES LIQUIDATEURS QUI S’ENGRAISSANTS AU DETRIMENT DES EPOUSES, FILS, ET PETIT – FILS DU DECOJUS”, THAT IS, “ LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE, IT IS LAWYERS , NOTARIES, MAGISTRATES AND OTHER LIQUIDATORS,  THAT ARE FEEDING FAT AT THE DETRIMENT OF THE WIVES, CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN  OF THE DECEASE“.  So lawyers, notaries, magistrates and other liquidators have over the years been the ones feeding fat from huge Family Business or “Gold Mine’ that Soppo Priso left behind, while the children and other close family members have nothing.

Siblings Of Late Of Next – Of – Kin

Meanwhile as stated in Part 6 of these series of articles on why many family businesses in Cameroon do not survive their founders, the France based Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso (a handicap), who was the next –of –kin to Late Paul Soppo Priso that passed away in 1996, also unfortunately passed away on January 4, 2020, without having yet have access to his own share of the huge assets that his father left behind. This was due to the intrigues that the Douala Court has over the years been playing over the issue of the sharing of the huge assets that Paul Soppo Priso left court. The court has been prolonging the matter, opting rather to keep appointing one Administrator or Liquidator after the other, to manage the huge estate, or better still to manage or liquidate what is left of the huge estate.

Following the passing away of the next – of – kin, Gaston Claude Soppo Priso, his siblings took legal measures to be recognized as those that would inherit his own share of the assets of their late father, whenever the court would finally decide that the properties or money be shared to the right persons. The four siblings included Herve Soppo Priso, Laurette Soppo Priso, Jean Paul Soppo Priso , and Serges Soppo Priso. The Wouri High Court in Douala issued a judgment on March 14, 2022, granting the demand of the four siblings of Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso.

Two Lawyers Claim Close To 500 Million FCFA From Siblings Of Late Gaston Soppo Priso

  Meanwhile, French language newspaper, JEUNE ENQUETEUR, in its aforementioned edition of October 15, 2024, also made some more disturbing disclosures about the intrigues been played in the fight over the assets of late multibillionaire, Paul Soppo Priso. The paper disclosed that after Late Paul Soppo Priso’s next – of – kin, Gaston Claude Patient Soppo, passed away, and his four siblings obtained a court judgment that recognized them as those who will inherit his own share of the assets left behind by their late father (Paul Soppo Priso), two lawyers later separately surfaced in Yaounde and Douala, to demand the payment of a total of 473 million FCFA (Four hundred and seventy three million francs CFA) by the four siblings.

The paper said Barrister Etoundi in Yaounde demanded that the four siblings of Late Gaston Soppo Priso who include Herve Soppo Priso, Laurette Soppo Priso, Jean Paul Soppo Priso, and Serges Soppo  Priso,  pay him the sum of 360 million francs CFA, while Barrister  Njikam Firmin demanded the payment of 113 million francs CFA.  The two lawyers claimed that the money demanded was unpaid fees that Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso owed them, for services they rendered to him. The two lawyers said they were the legal counsels of Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso in the protracted case over the sharing of the assets of the late Paul Soppo Priso.

But the siblings of Gaston Soppo Priso, rejected the claims by the two lawyers, on the ground that they had no documents to substantiate their claims that their late brother owed them money. The siblings also stated that Barristers Etoundi and Njikam did not as well provide details of the matters in which they defended their brother, Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso, in court as they claimed

Yaounde and Douala Courts Sides With Lawyers

The Jeune Enqueteur newspaper, further disclosed that following the insistence and threats by Barrister Etoundi, the four siblings of Late Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso, hired Lawyer Nyemb, and took the matter to the Mfoundi High Court in Yaounde. But the paper reported that the siblings were shocked that the Mfoundi High Court in an Ordinance of August 13, 2024, declared that the matter filed by four siblings against Barrister Etoundi, was ‘IRRECEVABLE’, meanwhile that the court rejected the matter or refused to handle the matter.

The paper reported that on his part in Douala, Barrister Njikam Firmin, together with some bailiffs, visited a number of commercial banks in Douala on September 20, 24 and 25, 2024, in search of the accounts of the siblings of Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Priso, to seal as “conservatory measure”, over the issue of the debt (unpaid fees) of 113 million francs CFA, which he claimed Gaston was owing him by the time of his death.

Since Barrister Njikam and the bailiffs did not know the exact banks in which the four siblings had accounts, they thus ended up visiting a total of 13 commercial banks, which included CBC, Societe Generale, BICEC, SCB Cameroun, NFC Bank, Afriland First Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank Alantique, Citi Bank, Union Bank of Cameroon, United Bank for Africa Cameroon, and Ecobank Cameroun. In all the 13 commercial banks that were visited, the bailiffs presented documents to seal the accounts of  Herve Soppo Priso, Laurette Soppo Priso, Jean Paul Soppo Priso and Serges Soppo Priso,  that is, the siblings of Gaston Claude Patient Soppo Prison, in a case where any of them, had an account in the bank. Terrible!