Top officials on trial for corruption

A powerful top aide to President Felix Tshisekedi is on trial for corruption in a case without precedent in the DRC. Tshisekedi's chief of staff Vital Kamerhe is accused of having embezzled more than $50m. A report on the Bangkok Post site notes that he is being tried in a makeshift court set up within Kinshasa's central prison compound, where he has been in custody since 8 April. The proceedings are being broadcast on national television. ‘I have a major function to carry out,’ Kamerhe told the court. ‘I have all the fame that comes with the job, so I am duty-bound to behave as a statesman... and to honour our justice system.’ The New York Times reports that Kamerhe is charged alongside two others, Lebanese businessman Jammal Samih and Jeannot Muhima, a senior aide to Tshisekedi. They also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

 

The trio are accused of siphoning funds intended to finance major works under a ‘100-day’ emergency action plan that Tshisekedi launched after he took office in January last year. The funds were earmarked for the construction of 4500 pre-fabricated homes. The case against Kamerhe is part of a broad investigation that is supposed to mark the ‘renewal’ of the Congolese justice system in the fight against corruption among the elite since the country's independence from Belgium in 1960. ‘Never in Congo's political history over the past two decades has such an important player on the political scene been put behind bars,’ said New York University's Congo Study Group.

 

Full report in The New York Times

Full report on the Bangkok Post site