“Congo Hold-up”: opening of judicial information targeting clan of Joseph Kabila

According to a survey conducted by international media and NGOs, the former president and his family would have diverted $ 138 million between 2013 and 2018.

Le Monde with AFP.

Legal information for the clan of the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Joseph Kabila was opened in Kinshasa after revelations of alleged hijacking of $ 138 million (about 123 million euros), Has we learned Wednesday, November 24 from the judiciary.

In a survey entitled “Congo Hold-up”, conducted by international media and NGOs and whose publication began on Friday, Mr. Kabila and his family are accused of “siphoned” at least $ 138 million Caisses of the state. These alleged diversions took place from 2013 to 2018, according to the authors of this survey that makes a large noise in the DRC.

Interviewed by the press, the government spokesman, Patrick Muyaya, said Monday that “the Minister of Justice wrote to the prosecutor’s office on 20 November” and “gave injunction for investigation and prosecution” . “We can not, as a government, remain insensitive to such allegations,” said Muyaya, who is also Minister of Communication. “There is an opening of a judicial information” by the parquet near the Court of Cassation, following the request of the Minister of Justice, confirmed at AFP, under the cover of anonymity, a source of the parquet .

“A screen installed in a garage”

According to the “Congo Hold-Up” survey, the $ 138 million were diverted “with the complicity of BGFI DRC Bank”, a subsidiary of the BGFI BANK banking group (based in Gabon), in which relatives of Mr. Kabila had interests and responsibilities, “especially through a screen installed in a garage”.

According to its authors, this survey is based on 3.5 million confidential banking documents, obtained by the Mediapart French online investigative media and the NGO platform for the protection of alert launchers in Africa. These data were analyzed for six months by 19 international media and five NGOs, coordinated by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network.

In a statement, the Ex-President Kabila Communications Service described the findings of this investigation from “Kabilabashing” and “attempted deductible” of the former head of state. Mr. Kabila led the DRC from January 2001 to January 2019, when the current head of state, Felix Tshisekedi succeeded him.

/Media reports.