The findings of a group of international media and NGOs that accuses the former President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Joseph Kabila and his entourage of having embezzled more than $ 100 million in public funds from 2013 to 2018 puts the country’s government under pressure.
The survey, dubbed the Congo Hold-up, is attracting a lot of attention in the African country, one of the richest on the planet in natural resources, but where three quarters of the population live in extreme poverty.
At the same time, it constitutes a test for the successor of Mr. Kabila, Félix Tshisekedi, who has affirmed, since taking office in 2019, wanting to make the fight against corruption one of his priorities.
“Everyone only talks about that here […]. People hope that it will lead to something ”, commented Friday by telephone of Kinshasa Jean-Claude Mputu, of the collective Congo is not for sale.
Agence France-Presse said Wednesday that a “judicial investigation” had been opened in response to the request of the Ministry of Justice after the government said on Monday that it “could not remain insensitive” to the allegations.
“We hope that these are not just declarations and that there will be concrete actions”, underlines Mr. Mputu, who is particularly worried about the impact of a law passed shortly before the departure of power from the ex-president, in 2018, giving him extended immunity.
“Kleptocracy”
The Congo Hold-up investigation – described as a form of “Kabilabashing” by a spokesperson for the ex-president – is based on a major leak of confidential banking documents obtained by the Platform for the Protection of Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) and the French investigative media Mediapart.
The director of the PPLAAF, Henri Thulliez, notes that the documents in question constitute a sort of “perfect instruction manual on how a kleptocracy works”.
We see that a head of state and his entourage can really capture the entire financial and commercial system of a country where the legal system is failing.
Henri Thulliez, director of the PPLAAF
The new survey draws attention in particular to the role of a local subsidiary of the Gabonese and French International Bank (BGFI) headed for several years by the adoptive brother of Joseph Kabila and that of a company called Sud Oil, which was controlled. by this same brother and sister of the former president.
The media and NGO consortium concluded that Sud Oil was in fact a shell company that had been used to embezzle funds from several Congolese public institutions, including more than $ 60 million from the Central Bank of Congo as well as $ 25 million from a company. State mining.
Irregularities reported as early as 2016
A whistleblower, Jean-Jacques Lumumba, drew attention to irregularities occurring within the BGFI subsidiary in 2016. After fleeing the country, he handed over his files to the Belgian daily The evening, who then questioned in his pages the transfer of a sum of several tens of millions of dollars from the Congolese central bank to a food import firm controlled by several relatives of ex-president Kabila.
The same year, the Reuters news agency published an investigation showing that the president and his family had formed a network of companies spanning “in all sectors of the Congolese economy” having brought them “hundreds of millions. of dollars “.
She pointed out in particular that the former president, his wife, his children and eight of his siblings controlled more than 120 mining permits for gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and other minerals.
Mr. Mputu notes that these revelations had caused a stir abroad, but had hardly been discussed publicly in the DRC, since Joseph Kabila, who was in office from 2001 to 2019, led the country with an iron fist. and appeared “untouchable”.
Although he is no longer in power, the former president remains politically influential and has a number of supporters in government institutions likely, according to activist Jean-Claude Mputu, to want to influence the outcome of the investigation. .
“There is a principle of reality to be taken into account,” agrees Mr. Thulliez, who says he hopes that the authorities will be able to “do their job once and for all” and sanction those responsible for the abuses noted in Congo Hold. up.
The BGFI said in a statement on Wednesday that it condemned “acts contrary to the law and ethics” that may have occurred in its Congolese subsidiary and had taken in 2018 the “remedial measures” required to avoid any future slippage.
Transparency International noted, in a recent report, that the DRC had laws to fight against illicit enrichment, but that the lack of independence of the police and judicial authorities limited the chances of success of such procedures, even more so when they concern politicians with immunity from the courts.