In the spotlight: the revelations of the Congo Hold-up investigation, with the denials of some and the anger of others
Audio 04:12
Former Congolese President Jospeh Kabila.
© RFI
By: Frédéric Couteau Follow
4 min
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The revelations of
Congo Hold-up
, this international investigation into massive embezzlement of public money during the Kabila period continue to generate a lot of ink in the press on the continent. There are first of all those who rebel against the results of the investigation, like Jules Alingete, the head of the General Inspectorate of Finances *. Asked by the Congolese news site
Politico
, he believes that "
the assertions of the investigations of this media consortium on this file have no basis since they are simply based on" innuendos "
".
He takes the example of the payment of 43 million dollars from the central bank of Congo for BGFIBANK which would then have transferred this money to an account linked to Kabila.
False, he says: it was the bank that kept the money and nothing was paid to Kabila.
Still according to him, “
the objectives pursued by these foreign media go against the interests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"
Mea culpa
As for the BGFI bank, it has promised to return these famous 43 million dollars. The BGFI which also defends itself. By means of a press release published by the
Actualité CD
site
,
she said "to
condemn with the utmost firmness the acts contrary to the law and to ethics which may have been committed in the past within its Congolese subsidiary and whose its employees could possibly have been perpetrators or accomplices to varying degrees.
"
The BGFI which further specifies that it took
"
in 2018 the necessary reorganization measures.
"
And she concludes by asserting that
"
the judicial authorities remain the only ones empowered to establish, in respect of the law, the innocence or the guilt of the persons prosecuted.
"
Justice and restitution!
Precisely, justice, this is what claims Jean-Claude Mputu, spokesperson for the collective Congo is not for sale.
He was interviewed by the
DRC
news site
Afrikarabia
.
For him it is clear that “
the documents revealed by Congo Hold-up show the importance of an organized and systematized diversion by the family of Joseph Kabila with the means of the State.
This makes it possible to trace the circuit of certain sums of money that we suspected of having been embezzled, but for which we did not have all the elements and all the certainties
.
"
So, continues Jean-Claude Mputu, “
we are waiting for the government, as it has announced, to be able to open investigations, identify the culprits, prosecute them and punish them.
We are also awaiting the recovery of the embezzled goods.
There have been a few lawsuits in the past, but we never got the property back.
Congo Hold-up allows us to identify certain goods, such as boats, buildings, or businesses bought with public money.
These goods must return to the Congolese state.
"
A "
mafia
"
Another angry man, Jean-Claude Katende, president of Asadho, the African Association for Human Rights.
You can read it on the Congolese site
Cas-Info
: Jean-Claude Katende denounces "
the mafia
", according to him, organized by the former president of the CENI, Corneille Nangaa, who would have embezzled millions of dollars from the coffers of the institution for the benefit of the Kabila clan.
“
At the time, denounces Jean-Claude Katende, when we demanded that the CENI make its financial report public, we were called extremists.
Today, with Congo Hold-up, everyone understands why Naanga did not want to.
A man with a big mouth, but immersed in the Mafia.
"
"
A Kabila can hide many others
"
For
Le Pays
au Burkina, the case has been heard… “
Did Joseph Kabila and his family get rich on the backs of the Congolese people? Everything leads, alas, to believe it. And it is not the denials of the communicators of the former Congolese number one, who deplore "an unjustified relentlessness of certain powers hidden behind these media", which will be enough to exonerate the accused.
"And"
we must welcome the determination of these journalists and other whistleblowers, in the tireless crusade they lead against these "robberies" of public funds, which are fond of many leaders of Africa and even of elsewhere.
"Indeed, be careful, warns
The Country, “a Kabila can hide many others on the continent, whether they are former leaders or current presidents.
"
-
*
Note that Jules Alingete, in an
interview with Christophe Boisbouvier
Thursday, November 25, welcomed this investigation, calling it "
positive
".
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