The High Court in London has dismissed an attempt by Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso, son of the president of the Republic of Congo, to have documents linking him to allegations of corruption removed from the website of the anti-corruption group Global Witness.
In June, Global Witness published documents, including credit card statements, suggesting that money from government oil sales was used to pay for personal items worth thousands of dollars which Sassou-Nguesso and another government official bought in Paris, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Sassou-Nguesso, who heads Cotrade, the marketing arm of the Congo's public oil company, sought a court injunction in Great Britain forcing Global Witness to remove the documents from its website. In a judgment released Wednesday, Justice Stanley Burnton ruled against him.
In his judgment, which Global Witness published on its website, the judge wrote: "It is an obvious possible inference that his [Sassou-Nguesso's] expenditure has been financed by secret personal profits made out of dealings in oil sold by Cotrade. The profits of Cotrade's oil sales should go to the people of the Congo, not to those who rule it or their families."
Burnton added that the finances of government officials should be open to scrutiny. "Once there is good reason to doubt the propriety of the financial affairs of a public official, there is a public interest in those affairs open to public scrutiny," he wrote.
Global Witness director Patrick Alley welcomed the judgment.
"The High Court ruling is a spectacular victory for the right of Congo's citizens to know about how public officials are managing their country's wealth and for freedom of speech in general," he said in a press release. "Public officials like Sassou-Nguesso should explain their financial affairs, not try to use the courts to block public debate."
The Republic of Congo is one of Africa's largest oil producers and is no stranger to corruption allegations. Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso's father, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, is currently the subject of a police investigation in France.
