Kabila files corruption complaint against officials
Democratic Republic of Congo President, Joseph Kabila, has filed a criminal complaint against no fewer than 12 current and former government officials for fraud and corruption, the media ministry said on Saturday.
“President Kabila is committed to doing everything possible to preserve the public’s faith in both their elected and appointed representatives,” media minister and government spokesman, Lambert Mende, said in the statement.
The media ministry said the complaint included allegations of accepting bribes and defrauding customs services.
The public prosecutor’s office says the dossier is sealed and has refused to name anyone mentioned in it.
He has denied that there was any political motive behind the charges.
It did not name anyone, but media reported earlier this week that the complaint targeted senior officials, including the governor of copper-rich Katanga province, Moise Katumbi, Kabila’s long-time ally now a critic.
Katumbi, seen as a potential contender for the presidency in elections in 2016, said on Thursday he had not been officially informed of any charges but that he would not be surprised if they came.
Katumbi was a longtime ally of Kabila, but the two fell out in December after Katumbi publicly voiced opposition to the idea of Kabila serving a third term in office.
Kabila, who came to power in 2001 and won disputed elections in 2006 and 2011, is constitutionally ineligible to stand in the polls, but opponents accuse him of seeking to hold onto power beyond 2016.
Kabila has refused to comment publicly on his political future, but Mende has said that the president intends to respect the constitution.
Congo ranks 154 out of 175 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index.
(Reuters)