DRC: Vital Kamerhe and Samibo's $ 50 million

Text by: Sonia Rolley Follow

On May 11, 2020, President Tshisekedi's chief of staff, Vital Kamerhe, will appear for the first time before the Kinshasa-Gombe High Court. He is accused of having benefited with his relatives from the embezzlement of more than $ 50 million on two projects for the delivery and installation of prefabricated houses wanted by the Congolese head of state as part of his emergency program. Félix Tshisekedi's main ally defends himself by ensuring that the works follow their course.

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When Félix Tshisekedi is given the presidential winner in January 2019, like many entrepreneurs, the Lebanese businessman Samih Jammal, 83, no doubt sees an opportunity to do juicy business again in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( Ground floor). He has just renewed his exclusivity contract with the Turkish company Karmod, which specializes in the construction of prefabricated houses. Because of the 2018 elections, the nearly $ 27 million over-the-counter market it had frozen was frozen. He was to build 900 houses in rural areas in nine of the twenty-six provinces of this immense country, largely devoid of infrastructure.

"  In January, when the new president arrived, the sons of  Samih Jammal said that it was time to get payment for the 2018 contract, they were put in touch with the nephew of Vital Kamerhe by a friend  Explains a close relative of the family. The entourage of the president's chief of staff denied. But a photo presented as that of this first meeting between the chief of staff's chief of staff and the old Lebanese businessman appears in the investigation file on the table of the Gombe tribunal de grande instance. They are both accused of "embezzlement of public funds, corruption and money laundering". Only Vital Kamerhe is still locked up in one of the collective cells of the sinister central prison of Makala. Samih Jammal was transferred to the Ngaliema clinic for health reasons, but he remains officially detained.

Vital Kamerhe has been Félix Tshisekedi's main ally since November 2019. Together, they founded the Cap pour le Changement (Cach) coalition and officially won the presidential election. One becomes head of state, the other, his chief of staff. After these highly contested elections, they embark on a risky bet and agree to work with the Common Front for Congo (FCC) of the former head of state, Joseph Kabila, who still holds the essential reins of power. This is how Justin Bitakwira, member of the FCC, former president of the parliamentary group of Vital Kamerhe and outgoing Minister of Rural Development, finds himself forced to have to work with his former boss after leaving him in favor of Joseph Kabila. "  When the friends arrived, with this new breath, it was wonderful,  " he assured RFI. But Mr. Bitakwira said he was discarded from the start: "  Instead of considering us as allies, they treated us like corrupt bums." They thought they could change everything in a few months.  "

Contracts without "  legal basis  "

It is indeed the signature of this former minister and now close to Joseph Kabila who is at the bottom of most administrative acts relating to the contract signed with Samibo Congo SARL, one of the companies of Samih Jammal . In April 2019, he notably agreed to initial an addendum to the first contract with the old Lebanese businessman. It increases the order, reduces the number of provinces concerned and doubles the amount due to the company. This time, it involves building 1,500 social housing units in five provinces and for an amount of $ 57.5 million. "  It was my secretary general who had been designated as the focal point of the presidency, he was transmitting the instructions to me  ," further justified Mr. Bitakwira. He himself assures that he has never been invited to the presidency. “  When the prosecutor told me that Vital Kamerhe had cited me ten times in his hearing as responsible for all of this, I was flabbergasted.  "

► Read also: DRC: concern about contracts awarded to businessman Jammal Samih

Two months after its signature of the endorsement, on June 18, 2019, the Directorate General of Public Procurement Control (DGCMP) rejects the merits of the modifications made on this market. According to the DGCMP, "the  said addendum modifies the basic contract significantly until it changes the very economy of the market.  In addition, she notes that "  the contractor's estimate is missing from the file."  Like Justin Bitakwira, supporting documents, the director general of the DGCMP also testified before the magistrate in charge of the investigation of the market irregularity. "  We have created a terrible confusion between the 900 houses project in Bitakwira and the 1,500 houses project in the 100-day program, but there is no legal basis,  " a court source told RFI.

Over $ 30 million cash withdrawn

It's too late. Between March 18 and May 21, 2019, $ 57.5 million will be disbursed in nine installments by the Central Bank of Congo, via a Treasury account housed in a Rawbank commercial bank, on that of Samibo Congo Sarl. This is the full amount due to this Samih Jammal company, without any prefabricated house being even delivered to the Congo. Of the total amount disbursed, the Congolese prosecution has been able to trace "  only for a little over eight million dollars in bank transfers to pay for the order  ", still ensures this judicial source. "  Either this money has been diverted, or Karmod accepts payments from the Congo, in cash or other ways, but these are ways that would be illegal.  "

According to this judicial source and a relative of Samih Jammal, at least 37 million dollars were withdrawn in several times and in cash by the Lebanese businessman or his agents. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, cash withdrawals are limited to $ 10,000. "  Unless justified by the client,  " points out a banking source. "  How can we refuse to a building contractor to operate these cash transactions, as part of a public contract covered by the presidency and the Central Bank of Congo?  "

Aggravating for the boss of Samibo Congo SARL, their counsel [would not have been able to present more than an import license for these orders in the amount of $ 12 million. "  My client is a merchant, he has accounts everywhere and certain orders may have gone outside the banking circuit,  " protests Tshitsha Bolokombe, lawyer for Mr. Jammal and his companies. For the Turkish company Karmod, its legal representative in the DRC is an "  honest and noble man  ", detained "without valid reason". "  It seems to us that this case is more political, apparently involving different parties to the conflict in the DRC,  " even advises Vusal Necmettin, sales and business development manager at Karmod.

Even before this first order is fulfilled, Samih Jammal is awarded a second juicy contract in this year 2019. He obtains over the counter a new order of $ 57.5 million. The presidency asked him this time to deliver 3,000 houses to the police and the military in the capital. "  During the execution, there was a new order from the head of state because he was happy with the work done  ," said lawyer Samih Jammal. "  It coincided with the head of state's promise to his republican guard of decent housing.  This is the new urgency for Félix Tshisekedi who seeks to gain favor with the reputed security forces acquired from his predecessor.

Defense of Vital Kamerhe

No contract will be established with Husmal SARL, a company created by the Lebanese businessman barely twenty days before the issue of an invoice for this market. In a letter sent from his cell to the prosecution on April 13, 2020, Vital Kamerhe justified himself, referring to "  the absence of a procurement cell for the President of the Republic  " and a "  resigned government  ". Since May 20, 2019, Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala, a former close friend of Félix Tshisekedi who rallied to Joseph Kabila, has accepted to resign to him. For the rest, Vital Kamerhe claims to have done everything correctly and provides some 33 supporting documents. "  Out of a total of 1,500 prefabricated houses ordered, 1,200 are already delivered, or 80%, by the company Samibo and 300 already manufactured await their loading and dispatch to the port of Matadi  ", assures the director of cabinet the Presidency.

If the goods do not arrive, according to Vital Kamerhe , it is because most of the containers are still blocked in the ports of Lobito and Dar es Salaam and this, "  due to this lack of payment of the fees due by the government  ”, Administrative and transportation costs to the five provinces concerned by this social housing program. In the second market of 3,000 houses, Mr. Kamerhe is just as adamant. Of the $ 57.5 million announced, only 2,137,500 were actually disbursed, or "  3.75% of the total amount  ". In exchange for what, the other company of the old Lebanese businessman, Husmal would nevertheless have delivered 31 containers to the port of Matadi on this order. However, his arguments were not sufficient to secure his release, even conditional. "  The prosecution to all statements and all transfers to the accounts of Samih Jammal, Vital Kamerhe and his relatives,  " reassures our judicial source. "  If I tell you that they embezzled money, it is because they embezzled money.  According to Congolese justice, the daughter-in-law of the president's chief of staff, Soraya Mpiana, benefited from a plot of 5,000 square meters on a concession belonging to Mr. Jammal, which lawyers for Vital Kamerhe and the Lebanese businessman denies. A certificate of property registration in the name of Soraya Mpiana of June 8, 2019 is however included in the prosecution's file.

Overbilled contracts?

The first houses intended to become social housing are not delivered until August 2019 and it is the Tshatshi camp, one of the most famous military camps in the capital, which benefits. The monitoring committee of the 100-day program set up by a presidential ordinance two months earlier welcomes this on social networks. However, the order is far from corresponding to the invoices presented. The Samibo Congo SARL company was to deliver “  two-bedroom villa houses  ” at a unit price of $ 35,000 and “  duplex villa prefab houses  ” for $ 45,000.

The first houses built for the soldiers of the Tshatshi camp come out of the ground .... One of the successes of the 100-day program. Hat trick ! pic.twitter.com/LLMgYZhXQ9

The Turkish manufacturer, Karmod, tells him on its site that houses similar to those installed in Tshatshi camp, are 51 m2 with one bedroom and 91 m2 with two bedrooms and one floor, respectively. These are among the cheapest in its catalog. They cost only 5,500 and 13,000 dollars in Turkey, all taxes included. Added to this is the cost of transport, $ 5,000 per house and per container to transport them to Matadi. This is what appears on two detailed quotes provided to the Congolese prosecution by the defense of Samih Jammal. The Karmod representative in the DRC adds installation costs which multiply by seven the price of the one-bedroom model and by three that of the two-story villa. Samibo Congo SARL invoices everything, including the installation of interior and exterior doors at 10 dollars each.

In his correspondence dated April 13, 2020, Vital Kamerhe attempts to justify these prices. Samibo Congo SARL had to take care of "  the purchase cost, the transport to the ports of arrival, the construction of all the bases or foundations on all the sites to lay the houses, the salaries of the Turkish engineers who must raise houses, local labor assisting Turkish engineers and other miscellaneous charges.  Strangely, his sister company Husmal SARL does not apply the same rates and invoices these houses between $ 16,000 and $ 19,000, all charges included. This explains why this second order also amounts to $ 57.5 million, but for twice as many houses.

The monitoring committee of the 100-day program set up on June 15, 2019 was "in  particular  " to ensure the proper execution of the work in compliance with "  the rules of the art and the deadlines  ". He was to receive in exchange for operating costs 5% of the sums disbursed on each project. Despite alerts from civil society, as of July 2019 on this project, it will have taken almost a year for a general audit of this emergency program to be launched, under pressure from the population, from society civil, but also partners of Congo.

A few months earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to release emergency aid to Kinshasa to replenish its foreign exchange reserves and prevent it from defaulting. Anger is raging in the bubbling Congolese capital and the causes are multiple: higher taxes, prices, lower purchasing power and the grade separations that do not come out of the ground. These road infrastructures, emblematic of President Tshisekedi's 100-day program, were to revolutionize the traffic and life of the people of Kinshasa in a few months, poisoned daily by endless hours of traffic jams. On February 7, 2019, rather than visiting construction sites, most of them at a standstill, Félix Tshisekedi announces in the Council of Ministers his intention to launch an audit on these much-criticized construction sites. The audit is transformed into judicial procedure on the proposal of the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of justice and Keeper of the Seals, a relative of Joseph Kabila.

No effective control over public spending

"  I recognize that there is a great weakness in control and a lot of lessons to be learned,  " admits Nicolas Kazadi, ex-coordinator of this monitoring committee and still itinerant ambassador of Félix Tshisekedi in an exclusive interview with RFI. The prefabricated houses affair alone reveals more than one disturbing fact in the management of the country's public finances, where each disbursement for a public contract is supposed to be subject to a whole series of ex ante controls, as well as ex post. "  It is true that the ministers of budget and finance at the time, as well as the governor of the central bank would have to account  ," recognizes a judicial source to RFI. "  The prosecution has gathered the information, but it cannot arrest a minister, they are subject to trial before the Court of Cassation.  "

Even if the "  information  " had been transmitted, Mr. Yav Mulang and Pierre Kangudia, respectively former finance and budget ministers and members of the FCC, were not worried. Only the governor of the Central Bank of Congo still in office, Déogratias Mutombo, was called upon to provide clarifications on behalf of his institution, in particular cash withdrawals. "  He has already sent all the documents,  " says his communications officer. "  The governor has nothing to do with all of this. Rawbank is the place to go.  This commercial bank, regularly questioned by civil society, assures since the first hearings and the arrest of its managing director Thierry Taeymans to have collaborated with justice and to respect all the regulations in force. Finally, even this official is not prosecuted in this case. Thierry Taeymans is no longer CEO of Rawbank but remains a simple administrator.

How can we disburse 60 million dollars from the accounts of the Treasury in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, without a contract or a proper quote and withdraw these funds, essentially in cash? The case does not surprise Valery Madianga of the Public Expenditure Observatory (ODEP), one of the NGOs which most denounced the excesses of the first months of the Tshisekedi presidency: "This is not a new fact in our country. The authorities have always been accustomed to making disbursements of funds without contract and without invitation to tender, cash withdrawals of several tens of millions. "

For ODEP, the new fact is that the justice system and the press can obtain proof of these irregularities. “  With President Tshisekedi, the facts have been repeated, but a trial will open.  "Relatives of Vital Kamerhe reject the idea that this is the beginning of the fight against corruption and denounce justice to orders, engaged against a future rival in the elections of 2023."  If it is something else that a political trial, we would see Yav, Kangudia, Mutombo, Kazadi and even Félix Tshisekedi on the dock. They are all responsible for this management,  ”points out one of them. “  Vital Kamerhe has never paid a penny himself, he has no jurisdiction.  "

Response rights

In defense of Mr. Kamerhe, the chain of public spending was strictly respected. She also insisted on the fact that, with regard to the design and implementation of this project and in particular the regularization of the procurement procedure, everything was entirely managed by the Minister of Rural Development. Still according to the defense of Vital Kamerhe, the authorized state departments, and in particular the General Directorate for the Control of Public Contracts, had been consulted and informed beforehand by the Presidency that the works were going to start and that this regularization could occur later. . 

Requested by RFI, former ministers Yav Mulang and Pierre Kangudia have remained unreachable in recent days to respond to the allegations against them.

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