DRC: reactions multiply after the revelations of the Congo Hold-up investigation
Congo Hold-up, a survey of 19 media and five NGOs.
© RFI
Text by: Esdras Ndikumana Follow
5 mins
Since last Friday, 19 partner media including RFI and 5 NGOs have told you about the embezzlement of 138 million dollars for the benefit of former President Joseph Kabila and his inner circle.
Reactions have multiplied, especially in the DRC, while internationally, only the former colonial power has reacted at the highest level.
Advertising
Read more
It didn't take long.
Barely 24 hours after the first papers which shed light on this scandal which shook former President Joseph Kabila and his entourage, the DRC Minister of Justice, Rose Mutombo, reacted quickly.
She gave on Saturday - a public holiday in the DRC - "
injunction
" to the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation "to open a judicial investigation" on the recent
"revelations of embezzlement of public funds involving several Congolese and international companies
".
The Minister also asked him to initiate proceedings, if necessary.
"
It's normal,
" said Jules Alingete, the head of the services of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF). "
When there are such revelations, the government can only instruct the courts to open investigations, based on the elements put in the public place,
" he said.
The publication of
the Congo Hold-up investigation
seems to have come at the right time for power for President Félix Tshisekedi, who seemed to be going through a bad patch. Beginning of a protest movement against a Ceni decried by the opposition, civil society and the two main religious denominations of the country, persistent insecurity in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, more than six months later been placed under a state of emergency ... Many on the networks believe that this scandal is "
blessed bread
" for Tshisekedi.
"
It is astonishing that the government reacted upon the publication of the first papers in a series of papers which will continue to appear until the end of the week, and without having yet understood the ins and outs of this affair
" , reacted Jason Stearn, the director of the GEC, the Study Group on the Congo and who participated in the Congo Hold-up investigation.
"
I think that for once, those close to Tshisekedi are happy that the focus is not on them, but on Joseph Kabila,
" he added.
►
To read also: Congo Hold-up: the biggest leak of bank documents in Africa
In the Congo, the storm caused by the publication of the first conclusions of “Congo Hold-up” is not about to end, especially on social networks where simple anonymous and better-known personalities do not sometimes hide “disgust. That this scandal inspires in them.
The Lamuka opposition coalition of Martin Fayulu and Adolphe Muzito, it had this reaction which puts back to back all its adversaries of yesterday and today: "
the DRC is immense safe guarded by brigands
”.
As for La Lucha, he "
welcomed
" in a tweet, "
the diligence of the government and justice for the opening of a judicial investigation against the people and entities mentioned in #CongoHoldUp
".
"
We will do everything as citizens so that it is not another simple announcement effect
", promised this citizen movement well known for its commitment on the ground.
We salute the diligence of the government and the judiciary in opening a judicial investigation against the people and entities mentioned in #CongoHoldUp.
We will do everything as citizens so that it is not just another simple announcement effect https://t.co/hu3l9KSvVd
- LUCHA 🇨🇩 (@luchaRDC) November 25, 2021
The Minister of Communication and government spokesperson wanted to be reassuring.
"
When the time comes, justice will take up the case, the people who are concerned will be invited to give their information because it is necessary to make the difference between a journalistic investigation and a judicial investigation
", he assured.
The BGFI group comes out of its silence
The BGFI had been walled in silence until now, contacted at the headquarters in Libreville, Kinshasa, Paris, wherever it could be reached, it had not wanted to follow up on the questions of the Congo Hold investigation. up.
But for nearly a week now, successive revelations have highlighted the central role played by its DRC subsidiary in the plundering of the Congolese state for the benefit of Joseph Kabila's inner circle.
►
To read also: Congo Hold-up: the BGFI, at the heart of the scandal, breaks the silence
She therefore issued a press release threatening to prosecute any person participating "
in the disclosure of confidential or private information
" concerning him, while saying "to
disapprove of any questionable practices
" which "
may have been committed in the past
" within her. subsidiary of Kinshasa.
"A good thing", believes the Belgian Prime Minister
The first senior foreign official to have reacted to the Congo Hold-up investigation according to the Belgian daily
Le Soir
dated November 19, was the Prime Minister of Belgium, the former colonial power and who has kept very close links with his Ancient colony.
"
The revelation of this affair is a good thing
", estimated Alexander De Croo from the publication of the first articles on this investigation, ensuring that "
any form of corruption is totally unacceptable, a fortiori when it is done to the detriment of the most vulnerable like here
”.
"
It is in the very interest of the DRC that this affair be brought to light,
" continued the head of the Belgian government.
"
This should help the current president (Félix Tshisekedi) and his government to make progress in the fight against corruption, a fight that our country supports
," he observed.
Mr. De Croo was Minister of Development Cooperation between 2014 and 2020 in Belgium, when Joseph Kabila was in his last term.
His country had decided in 2018 to "
redirect
" a significant part of its development aid in favor of humanitarian aid and emergency programs "
in response to the worrying signals we were increasingly receiving about the Kabila regime and due in particular to the deterioration of the political context and the breakdown of trust between the authorities and the population
”.
Two years earlier, in 2016, revelations from the whistleblower, Jean-Jacques Lumumba, highlighted the dubious practices of BGFI Bank RDC, at the heart of the Congo Hold-up scandal today.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Congo Hold-up
DRC
Joseph Kabila