DRC: suspicions of fraud around Transco, the public transport company
In Kinshasa, a bus from the company Transco, a public transport company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Junior D. Kannah / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is Transco, the national transport company, siphoned off by its leaders?
This is what points out, in a report published this weekend, the Observatory of public expenditure (Odep), a Congolese NGO.
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From our correspondent in Kinshasa,
Pascal Mulegwa
Today, Transco, the public transport company of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
, is a hundred buses and barely ten lines.
But according to the Observatory of Public Expenditure (Odep), despite the reduction in the fleet over the years, the state has continued to pay for fuel as it did when it started in 2013, when there were more than 400 buses in operation. .
The NGO was interested in procurement, fuel allocations as well as questions of remuneration of these agents.
This report, which accuses the executives
of fraud
, was widely publicized.
It annoys the leaders of the company who consider its chimerical content.
This mismanagement is particularly visible from the launch of the company, according to Odep.
At the time, the monthly amount allocated by the government to the petroleum products distribution company Cobil was 900,000 dollars when Transco only consumed 300,000, explains the Congolese NGO, based on internal documents and reports. testimonials from agents of the company.
"
A state scam
"
For John Bongi, CEO of the company, these accusations do not hold water.
“
The fuel is managed on the basis of a contract between the government and Cobil.
We are only charged for what is consumed.
Transco does not manage physical quantities.
The state has never paid for 500 buses, we pay the actual consumption, the invoices exist,
”he explains.
Odep calls for investigations and legal proceedings.
In the viewfinder, two former transport ministers.
One of them, José Makila, who became a senator, is accused of having ordered a loan of $ 910,000 from a bank in December 2018.
The funds were reportedly spent on his election campaign.
That year, an election year in Congo, the company took on more than $ 8 million in debt without relaunching its activities.
“
A state swindle
,” accuses Odep.
Jose Makila, for the moment, has declined to comment.
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