corruption charges over the former president of congo shake the political forum

Corruption charges over the former president of Congo shake the political forum

A report formed by one of the French investigative outlets revealed that the former president of Democratic Republic of Congo had siphoned $138 million in state funds while in power. The report was published on Friday creating a doubtful spectacle for the political sphere of the nation.

Joseph Kabila has been held accountable for corruption while in power by the investigative agency however, the press office of Kabila denied any such claims. The former leader was in power from 2001 to 2019 where he was under scanner for such corrupt practices but none of them was found to be true.

Recently in an attempt to reveal governmental procedures and compromise the security of the nation, the Mediapart and the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa got access to over three million documents from the International Gabonese and French Bank from which this information about the former president taking such huge amount of state fund came in daylight.

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To bring out the information and properly carry out an investigation in the matter, in total 19 media outlets along with five non-governmental organizations were involved. The European investigative team had to spend over six months to come up with this revelation with surety.

As per the statement included in the investigative report, “The documents… show that former president Kabila, his family and relatives received, with the complicity of the BGFI, at least $138 million from state coffers between 2013 and 2018.”

The report also claimed that the funds were transferred to the destination account via a shell company which had its set up in a garage. Despite providing ample proof to the media and the office of the former president, they have continued to deny the claims calling them false accusations. The Bank also chose not to respond to the allegation but the first level of investigation has found that the person who was the main signatory, the general director of the DRC subsidiary of the Gabon-based BGFI bank was the adoptive brother of Kabila while the shell company mentioned in the report was owned by Kabila’s sister.