Massive Embezzlement by DR Congo's Kabila Spotlighted in Reports

A series of investigative reports have uncovered a series of allegedly corrupt transactions to plunder the Democratic Republic of Congo's public funds and natural resources, largely for the enrichment of the former president of the DRC, Joseph Kabila, and his inner circle. A massive deal between Chinese state-owned engineering firms and the DRC to trade mineral wealth to fund urgently needed infrastructure projects concealed a multimillion-dollar embezzlement and bribery operation, according to an investigative report by The Sentry, an NGO based in Washington, DC co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast.

The latest findings follow investigative reports released in the "Congo Hold-up" series by an international consortium of non-profit organizations and media outlets. The millions of leaked bank records obtained by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) and the French news group Mediapart and shared with The Sentry and other consortium partners by PPLAAF and European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) represent the largest confidential data leak in African history.

Although Kabila's final term as president was set to end in December 2016, he clung to power and delayed elections for two more years. While the eyes of many observers were fixed on the election-stalling tactics in the capital city Kinshasa, Kabila's brother Francis Selemani, who was the managing director of the BGFIBank at the time, purchased numerous luxury homes in the U.S. and South Africa, it appears - at least in part - using funds diverted from the DR Congo government, writes The Sentry in its report, Embezzled Empire.