Presidential aide convicted

A DRC court on Saturday found President Felix Tshisekedi’s chief of staff guilty of embezzling $48m in public funds and sentenced him to 20 years in jail. Vital Kamerhe is the most senior politician to face trial for graft in the country where high-level corruption is endemic. ‘From everything we have heard, the court has established as fact the offence of embezzlement of public funds,’ said presiding Judge Pierrot Mvita who wore a mask and rubber gloves. A report on the France24 site notes that Kamerhe denied stealing money earmarked for social housing under Tshisekedi’s flagship social upliftment programme. The ruling was handed down after the Constitutional Court on Friday asked the lower court to hand over the judicial dossier under an ‘exception of unconstitutionality’. A report on the News24 site notes that the lower court had said it was unable to transmit the file. The televised trial, which was held in the courtyard of the capital's main jail, takes place during a broader campaign for the ‘renewal’ of the justice system to help root out entrenched corruption.

Justice Minister Celestin Kasende revealed last week that the former presiding judge in the case had been murdered. He said Raphael Ovungu died in the early hours of 27 May of a haemorrhage caused by head trauma, contradicting a police assertion that the cause of death was cardiac arrest. His death came two days after he presided over the second hearing in the graft trial. Kasende described the killing as ‘an ignominious act.’

Full Fin24 report

Full report on the France24 site