A former DRC Prime minister was found guilty of corruption and given a ten-year sentence of forced labor. The Congolese Constitutional Court found Augustin Matata Ponyo and Deogratias Mutombo, the former Governor of the Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, guilty on Tuesday, May 20 of embezzling approximately $245 million (£182 million) of public funds. According to Matata’s attorney, the decision was unjust and driven by politics.
A portion of the money came from a significant agricultural project meant to address the nation’s ongoing food shortages. He was praised by the International Monetary Fund for stabilizing the nation’s economy while serving as finance minister prior to becoming premier. In the same case, former governor of the central bank Deogratias Mutombo was also sentenced to five years of forced labor; he has not publicly responded to the decision. According to the US State Department, forced labor is permitted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when ordered by a court as a criminal penalty.
According to the AFP news agency, both men have been prohibited from entering the public sector for a period of five years following the conclusion of their forced labor contracts. The accusations have been repeatedly denied by Matata, who ran against DRC President Felix Tshisekedi in the 2023 election before withdrawing. Since the nation’s Inspectorate General of Finance first learned of the theft from the Bukanga-Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park in 2020, the case has lasted for nearly four years.
According to the Reuters news agency, the park was one of Africa’s biggest agricultural investments ever, and the African Development Bank Group anticipated that it would create 22,000 jobs. It was designed to give relief to the 28 million people who are currently experiencing severe food insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country that has been engulfed in conflict for over 30 years, since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.