In this case, the plaintiff is the captain of an oil tanker who is accused by the Antipollution Centre (CIAPOL), a unit of the Ministry of Environment in charge of fighting marine based pollution, to have spilled oil within the harbour and the surrounding of the port in Abidjan. As a result the CIAPOL requested the captain of the tanker to pay a 20 million CFA Franc penalty.

The plaintiff challenges the penalty decision of the CIAPOL in front of the Supreme Court. The court considered that the decision taken by CIAPOL was a violation of the rule of procedure as the article 108 of the Environmental Code which provides that the administration can only settle a dispute outside of the tribunal but cannot take any unilateral decision. In that case, the court considered that the decision to fine the captain was a unilateral decision and not a dispute settlement and therefore was not in line with the Environmental Code. Consequently, the Court annulled the decision of the CIAPOL