100 days program in the DRC: Vital Kamerhe's nephew arrested

Vital Kamerhe, chief of staff to the president of DR Congo, Félix Tshisekedi. RFI / Sonia Rolley

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Vital Kamerhe's nephew, Daniel Massaro, was arrested on Friday, May 15. He is expected to be transferred to the prosecution on Monday. He is suspected of having linked the director of cabinet to President Tshisekedi and the Lebanese businessman Samih Jammal in the transaction concerning the prefabricated houses contract and of having benefited from alleged embezzlement of public funds in the framework of the 100 days program. A case for which his uncle and Samih Jammal are currently on trial. 

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa , Kamanda wa Kamanda Muzembe

It was the link in the chain that was missing to establish the relationship between the two main defendants in the case of embezzlement of public funds intended for the construction of prefabricated houses. Daniel Shangalume Nkingi, alias Massaro, was found on the outskirts of the capital near the Bateke Plateau. 

Responsible for studies at the Ministry of Budget, he had disappeared the same day that he was to be heard at the Kinshasa-Matete prosecution, on April 9, the day after the arrest of his uncle . A wanted notice had then been launched to find him. In the corridors of justice, it was feared that the evaporation of Masaro in nature could obstruct the spread of the truth. 

Already, at the opening of the trial last Monday, Samih Jammal and Vital Kamerhe declared each not to know the other. The judges will now be able to put the question to Masaro when the trial resumes on May 25 . According to sources close to the investigation, he was the one who put the two parties in contact. 

In the juicy transaction, he would also have received a large commission, say the same sources. His arrest by the ANR was made possible by telephone tapping and tracking.

Read also: DRC: Vital Kamerhe and the 50 million dollars from Samibo

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