DRC: low hand on the funds of the upper house of Parliament
The People's Palace, building of the Congolese Parliament (DRC) on the occasion of the parliamentary reopening, in Kinshasa, September 15, 2016. RFI / Sonia Rolley
Text by: Sonia Rolley Follow
24 mins
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) is in the process of completing its investigation into the management of the two chambers of Parliament.
In the Senate especially, since the coming to power of Felix Tshisekedi, scandals have multiplied.
In particular, the outgoing president Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, a close friend of the former head of state, Joseph Kabila, is singled out.
While this Tuesday, March 2, 2021 should be elected and invested in the new final office of the Senate, RFI has investigated the use of the resources made available to this institution.
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“
Any office that comes under serious scrutiny could be thrown into jail.
This is the reality of our institutions.
Everything is paid for here, and in cash.
There is not an act or a vote which is not monetized by the senators and the deputies in one way or another
”, launches, blasé, an old road of the Congolese Parliament.
Although for a long time from the same political coalition, the elected representative denies being a supporter of Alexis Thambwe Mwamba or even Eric Rubuye, respectively president and quaestor of the outgoing office of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Since January 2021, these two men, close to the former head of state Joseph Kabila, have been the subject of serious accusations of corruption and embezzlement of public funds by the justice system and the General Inspectorate of Finance. (IGF).
They both resigned, following petitions mentioning mismanagement.
The second, Eric Rubuye, is even on the run.
He left the country after escaping an attempted arrest.
"
I'm not saying they don't deserve what's happening to them, I'm just emphasizing that the evil is deeper.
If there had been no crisis between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor, the events of early January, despite their apparent gravity, would have remained a non-event,
”continues the old senator.
However, on January 5, the day of the attempted arrest, the Quaestor had started distributing $ 10,000 in cash to senators, drawing on the backlog of operating costs paid a few days earlier by the Treasury.
On January 6, more than three million dollars had been withdrawn from one of the Senate's accounts and brought back to the home of its president, instead of being kept in his safe, at the People's Palace, seat of Parliament in Kinshasa .
Since then, revelations have multiplied on the financial health of the Senate, on its debts to the banking system as well as certain private companies.
The facts are all the more disturbing since at the time, the battle for control of the upper house already started in January 2021. A petition has just been filed against the First Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Samy Badibanga, a close friend of President Félix Tshisekedi.
For supporters of the head of state, these millions of dollars in cash were to be used to push the senators to obtain the head of Mr. Badibanga.
However, after having overthrown the office of the National Assembly, they hoped and are today on the way to succeed in definitively taking control of the Senate.
This Tuesday, March 2, should be elected and installed an office mainly designated by its new coalition, the Sacred Union.
10,000 dollars to bribe senators?
“
How can we speak of corruption
?
These
10,000 dollars were distributed to all senators including Samy Badibanga.
It was money the state owed the Senate.
Since 2019, we have not received our entire operating budget
, ”explains a member of the outgoing office close to Alexis Thambwe Mwamba.
However, on December 30, 2020, despite the budget restrictions, the upper house of Parliament was announced with a good surprise.
Against all expectations, at the very end of the fiscal year, more than $ 7 million was made available to it in one of its accounts at the Commercial Bank of Congo (BCDC).
Half is withdrawn the next day and is used, among other things, to pay senators.
“This
whole business is political.
Eric Rubuye had already received threats by phone from people calling him with a hidden number.
He was promised to go to Makala
[Editor's note: Kinshasa's central prison]
if he did not cooperate.
He is one of Thambwe Mwamba's faithful who was fighting to prevent him from falling.
By attacking him, it was Thambwe Mwamba that we were targeting.
At that time, you were offered everything, money, jobs, to join the Sacred Union.
He refused,
”says this member of the outgoing office.
This version is contested by a close friend of Samy Badibanga, First Vice-President of the Senate.
“
When the people of Thambwe Mwamba got caught in the act, they started distributing the money to everyone to hide the real motive.
Knowing his purpose, Samy Badibanga returned this money.
Everyone knows that it was to be used to corrupt those who could vote in favor of his dismissal when the vice-president was working in the shadows for the dismissal of the other six members of the office,
”he retorts.
When asked the question to the senators themselves, some evoke a bribe to sign the petition against Samy Badibanga, others an advance on an individual loan of $ 100,000 to which each senator would be entitled due. an increase in the remuneration package in the 2021 finance law.
"
We were going to buy the credits of those who had them and grant them to those who did not
", explains the member of the outgoing office, evoking a concern for justice.
Until then, out of 109 senators, only 65 benefited from a bank loan, 45 of which were from Afriland First Bank CD.
“
The BCDC had accepted the project.
We could not do it with Afriland which had also granted a lot of credits to the deputies and which already encountered problems to obtain the reimbursement
”, he adds.
Here again, the explanation is far from satisfying the Sacred Union camp.
"
I do not understand how we can make an advance on a loan that has not been formally contracted, by taking the money from the arrears of operating costs of the Senate,
" points out one of its senators.
The latter admits to having heard about this project in December and to have been wary of it: “
We had to reimburse
3,700 dollars over 3 years, or more than 130 million.
At the bank, the rate was 14
%, so the office had to pocket the difference
”.
For the member of Alexis Thambwe Mwamba's office, the explanation is quite simple.
The reimbursement was to be declining over the years and would be deducted at source from the monthly salary of senators.
Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, the "good father"
Aggravating fact for the Sacred Union: while on January 5, after this distribution to senators, the quaestor Eric Rubuye escapes an attempted arrest and takes the road to exile, on January 6, President Alexis Thambwe Mwamba orders to the treasurer of the Senate to withdraw the remainder of the funds made available to him in cash, that is to say nearly 4 million dollars in various currencies, and to deliver it to him at his home.
During a plenary session on February 2, 2021, Mr. Thambwe Mwamba confirms the facts but assures that the money was returned the next day to the administration of the upper house of Parliament, which no one seems today 'hui contest.
For Alexis Thambwe Mwamba's relative, he only acted that day "
as a good father
".
“
When the money comes out of the bank too late, could he do otherwise
?
We could not wait to recover these funds, foreign currency is scarce and the bank could have given it to a client.
What would it have looked like if the money had been stolen?
It has already happened in the past in other institutions and with the current economic situation, it was difficult to trust the administration and the security people,
”he assures us.
In any case, Jean-Philibert Mabaya, senator of the Sacred Union and quaestor of the Senate, for 12 years, ensures that this scenario has never happened to him.
“
We have an armored van, a safe at the People's Palace.
What is it for if not for that
?
Once the money is made available, it belongs to the Senate.
You can always ask the bank to keep it and deliver it early the next day.
This is what we have always done
", he believes.
"We had created a whole system of invisible"
In the battle for control of the Senate, money has undoubtedly been a key factor in more than one way.
This originated a year earlier.
In November 2019, the Congolese government, on the verge of bankruptcy, signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In exchange for emergency aid to stabilize his foreign exchange balance and through it, his currency, he had undertaken to no longer use the printing press and to pay only restrictive expenses.
Inflation was rampant, the Congolese franc was loosening against the dollar.
More and more voices were raised to denounce the abuses of bloated and budget-consuming institutions.
This measure will hit parliamentarians hard.
"
Because of institutions like the IMF, we had to limit their remuneration and that was not enough
," said the member of Alexis Thambwe Mwamba's office.
In a country where nearly 80% of the population lives on less than two dollars a day, the basic salary of a parliamentarian is still today just over 4,300 dollars a month.
“
But we had created a whole system of invisibles.
Part of the remuneration is hidden in two headings: operating costs and special intervention fund
, ”says this close friend of the former President of the Senate.
This compensation called "
differential and additional compensation
" allows the senator to almost double his salary.
But that's not all.
There are also political bonuses for members of the bureau, those of standing committees and provincial groups.
With the division of the country into 26 provinces and 109 senators, almost all of them benefit.
The smallest is $ 1,100 per month.
"
But most senators do not receive more than
$ 10,000 per month,
" assures a member of the provisional office, in place until the election on Tuesday.
This may not be entirely true.
According to a member of Alexis Thambwe Mwamba's office, despite the difficult economic context, the budget lines voted in the 2021 Finance law allow senators to be granted an increase of at least $ 3,000 this year, which would allow them to earn over $ 13,000 per month.
This new envelope would be called the Office for Senators Intervention Fund (FBI).
It would have been obtained by parliamentarians after the discovery of budget overruns for the prime minister and the presidency, in particular due to improved salary scales.
"
We had threatened not to vote for the Finance law if they did not improve our remuneration
", explains this member of the outgoing office.
"
I formally reject any increase in the remuneration of senators in 2021. If the Senate uses the operating budget for its remuneration, we will make sure to revise the amounts of this budget so as not to protect disguised remuneration
", assures Marcellin Bilomba, principal adviser of President Tshisekedi, in Economy and Finance.
This new FBI bonus of $ 3,000 was however paid last week, according to several sources.
In addition, at each parliamentary session, the Senate office pays attendance fees to senators.
The government provides reading premiums in extra-budgetary spending.
These envelopes are intended to motivate the examination of bills that are introduced.
In the event of an extraordinary session, the base salary of the senator is even doubled and there is more almost every year.
The members of the chamber are also entitled to plane tickets at each parliamentary vacancy, whether an extraordinary session comes to cancel them or not.
For example, the special session since the start of the year is expected to cost over $ 2.5 million, most of it in compensation.
Senators also receive a bonus if the Congress is convened.
"What is the point of posturing when you are unable to obtain payment"
However, since the coming to power of Felix Tshisekedi in January 2019, senators have complained.
Political bonuses are no longer cumulative and are often no longer paid.
Even if a senator sits on both a committee and a provincial group, only his highest premium is paid.
Attendance fees are no longer abundant, the Senate office was only installed in August and will only have had one session that year.
In 2020, the Covid-19 and the political crisis disrupted the parliamentary year, making the People's Palace just as unproductive.
Senators also blame the exchange rate which would have cost them a quarter of their pay since 2016. Health care was no longer reimbursed on a regular basis, especially if you were in opposition.
“
Even we, the senators of the FCC, we felt more and more that we were no longer defended.
What is the point of political posturing and of having the Minister of Finance on our side when we are unable to obtain a payment
?
», Explains one of them who, like many, has since joined the Sacred Union.
Meanwhile, Félix Tshisekedi's presidency is exploding its lines of credit.
While the IMF calls for restrictions, the Senate office contracts two loans for an amount of $ 7 million.
According to one of its members, the aim was to compensate for the irregular and incomplete payment of the allocation provided for in the budget.
But another source explains that the first of 3 million was a revolving loan, a kind of working capital which made it possible to compensate for the delays in the payment of the remuneration part of the special intervention fund.
The second, on the other hand, of 4 million, was to finance "
the installation of the members of the office, renovations and other expenses
" and would not have been managed by the administration.
2.8 million would remain to be repaid.
"The works that we see in this room are not worth this amount"
From March 2020, between the bureau and the plenary, the cloth burns and the first flame is lit by a senator from the FCC, member of the AFDC-A of the future president of the Senate and former minister of Joseph Kabila, Modeste Bahati Lukwebo.
At the opening of the parliamentary session, Bijoux Goya discovers, like his colleagues, that their plenary room has been renovated.
The amount of work was $ 4.5 million, an amount higher than all the investment projects provided for in the 2020 Senate budget.
“
The work that we see in this room is not worth that amount.
And then why were they necessary given our budgetary context
?
», Explains Bijoux Goya even today.
In addition, this contract had been awarded to Modern Construction, a company run by a close friend of the Senate Speaker, Indian businessman Harish Jagtani.
The firm of Alexis Thambwe Mwamba had even represented him in the acquisition of the parking lot of the Grand hotel in Kinshasa.
"The chairs were giving way", justifies for his part a close friend of the former president of the Senate, before explaining that for the choice of Harish Jagtani, "
it was necessary to find someone who agrees to do the work. without having received a franc and in the end, we only paid him a million
”.
This member of the outgoing Senate office explains the high price of the work by the cost of VAT and the need to send certain goods by plane, given the tight deadlines.
“
Everyone was angry
.
And we suspected much more embezzlement
”, remembers Bijoux Goya.
The new senators would have been "
obliged
" to open an account at Afriland First Bank CD, she still points out.
However, the quaestor Eric Rubuye was one of the administrators of the bank.
“
We suspect a deal.
Until then, we were all at BCDC because that was where the remuneration was paid and where we could obtain loans.
"
For the deputy general manager of Afriland First Bank CD, Patrick Kafindo, this is a false trial: “
In 2006, when institutions were set up, parliamentarians had to be financed.
No bank here wanted to do it.
We financed 400 deputies and 100 senators before their debts were bought by BIAC
", he
explains before adding
"
When parliamentarians were at BCDC, was that a problem
?
We are in a competitive market.
These things are changing.
We should not ask the question in that sense
”.
According to one of Afriland First Bank CD's whistleblowers and former auditor, Navy Malela, Mr. Rubuye was one of the bank's privileged clients and enjoyed “
many advantages
” with his company Erru Groupe, in particular made available in cash of several tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, between 2018 and 2019. A close friend of Mr. Rubuye denies these accusations and ensures that the latter resigned from his post as administrator of Afriland First Bank CD after his election and is no longer a shareholder or manager of Erru Groupe.
However, it remains attributed to him, according to the national trade register.
$ 4.4 million withdrawn in cash during the election period
The minister's letter is received by the Senate on December 24, 2018 and the same day, the first million is withdrawn in cash.
Four other withdrawals will be made by the treasurer of the Senate, until January 14, 2019, ten days before the inauguration of Félix Tshisekedi, this is what bank documents provided to RFI by the two Afriland whistleblowers reveal. First Bank CD.
In his letter addressed to the director general of the bank, Henri Yav Mulang specifies that this substantial loan will be made
"
under the remuneration and the special Senate intervention fund
" and should allow payment of the remuneration for the month of January 2019 as well. as severance pay, in favor of members of the Senate office and those of their cabinet members.
Three days after the first withdrawal, the quaestor at the time, Jean-Philibert Mabaya, produced a document known as “
end-of-year 2018 expenditure forecasts
”.
In this document, it is mentioned that almost half of the amount was to be used to pay the compensation for December and January.
The remainder was allocated to allowances for members of the Senate office and 28 senators.
Barely $ 350,000 went to cabinet members.
According to Jean-Philibert Mabaya, the senators concerned were the substitutes for those who, in 2011, had been elected to the National Assembly, the others having already obtained their severance pay.
There were no senatorial elections between 2006 and 2019. With the exception of substitutes arriving during the legislature, all senators leaving in January 2019 have served for almost 13 years.
But this did not prevent them from touching, during the 2011 presidential and legislative elections, their severance pay.
Clearly, they obtained these allowances without actually leaving their chair.
A line of credit of more than 2.35 million dollars had already been opened in 2010 to finance them, this time by the International Bank for Africa in Congo (BIAC).
It was supposed to be guaranteed by the government but has never been reimbursed since.
The senators had been paid for the most part in kind and had obtained a car.
In the DRC, they receive six months of basic salary upon entering and leaving office, which still exceeds $ 25,000 today.
"Between colleagues, we get along"
According to the Honorable Mabaya, most of the cabinet members of the Senate office had already received their severance pay in 2011. Only those of two new members of the Senate office, elected during the legislature, benefited from it in January. 2019.
This version is contested by some senators and several members of these cabinets who continue to claim their due "
Each member of the office had received the envelope allocated to his cabinet, but they did not return anything, except for
Moïse Nyarugabo [Editor's note: Elected deputy rapporteur of the Senate in 2016] ”, believes one of them.
“
Mabaya had even been heard on this last year when we complained but there was no follow-up
”.
For this cabinet member, "
neither the substitutes, nor the members of the office should have touched these allowances
".
Neither the substitutes because their incumbents had already touched them, nor the members of the office because they had already touched them.
The announced amount of 1.3 million for severance pay alone is in itself surprising.
It exceeds the legal amounts for the 35 senators who would have been concerned.
For the Honorable Mabaya, there is nothing abnormal about the fact that the members of the Senate office received their allowance in 2019. “
The members of the offices both in the National Assembly and in the Senate had no never touched their allowances, the regularization was made at the end of the mandate,
”he explains.
As for the exorbitant amount of the envelope, it refers to the head of the financial division of the Senate and to the Ministry of Finance.
Asked about this, a member of the provisional office of the Senate, installed after the 2018 elections, said he did not remember what had made it possible to pay the salaries of January 2019. He had never even heard of this loan to Afriland First Bank, but he didn't seem to want to ask more questions.
"
Between colleagues, we agree, there was no reason to snoop in the past,
" he explains.
Still, the Senate retains a debt of more than $ 2 million to BIAC and that this bank, in liquidation since, in particular for having lent money without being reimbursed to institutions, blocked as a precautionary measure. an account over $ 1 million.
This money was to be used to finance the retirement of senators.
Since the fall of Mr. Thambwe Mwamba's office on February 5, 2021, the tradition of "
not snooping into the past
" has been broken.
The rapporteur of the provisional office has multiplied the declarations evoking the overdrafts and the debts of the institution.
Besides that of BIAC, the Senate is aware of debts in certain health structures.
The Kinshasa medical center is demanding $ 277,257.
More seriously, his accounts at the BCDC show a debt of more than 5 million dollars.
In a letter of protest addressed to the president of this office on February 22, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba denounces "
hasty conclusions and disproportionate remarks likely to poison public opinion
".
He assures that when he took office, the institution already had a liability of $ 200,000 for health care.
As for the 5 million deficit, he urges his successors to turn to the State, which would continue to owe tens of millions of dollars to the upper house of Parliament.
"
Assuming that the Treasury pays, on your impulse,
only
10 % of this sum, there would no longer be a debit balance anywhere
," concludes Alexis Thambwe Mwamba.
The former strongman in the Senate may continue to have to speak.
The General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) should submit its report to the Head of State in the coming days.
As long as Alexis Thambwe Mwamba was in office, his services had refused to collaborate with the elite body of public finances which suddenly asked him, in writing, to justify for some 50 million of operating budget since his arrival in the power of Felix Tshisekedi.
The former president of the Senate responded by recalling that he had been in office since August 2019 only.
But for the past ten days, IGF teams have been working hard to study the pieces presented to them.
According to a source close to this file, certain operations were carried out by the outgoing Senate office without informing the administration services.
She cites, among other examples, the award of the renovation contract for the Senate plenary hall, but also the distribution of $ 10,000 to senators in January 2019.
“
The inspectors received the list of beneficiaries but not the individual waivers that the senators should have signed.
We are still waiting for them,
”explains this source.
According to the initial conclusions of the General Inspectorate of Finance, 82% of the resources made available to the Senate in terms of the operating budget have not been justified.
For a member of the outgoing board, “
the IGF has become a political instrument.
Do you think they work in serenity
?
The DRC is becoming a dictatorship
”.
Despite RFI's requests, Eric Rubuye, quaestor of Alexis Thambwe Mwamba's office, remained unavailable to respond to his request for an interview.
Contacted by RFI, the outgoing President of the Senate, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba says he does not wish to
“enter into the controversy”
and refers to the explanations of his colleague already mentioned in the article and to his letter of February 22, 2021 addressed to his successor, the president of the provisional office.
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