Former DR Congo Prime Minister to serve 10 years in prison for fraud, alongside central bank governor
The former Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo who served under President Joseph Kabila has been sentenced to serve 10 years in prison coupled with hard labour; the Tanzania Times has been informed.
Likewise, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Congo (BCC), Déogratias Mutombo Mwana Nyembo has also been slammed with a jail term of five years and forced labour, under the same charges of fund embezzlement over some shoddyAgro-industrial park project.
In connection with the case, the court has again pronounced judgment to a South African national, Christo Grobler, who was the Head of Africom firm, who also gets to serve five years in prison with hard labor.
The three accused persons have been under series of investigation since 2021 in connection with the debacle of the infamous Bukanga Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park.
The former DR Congo Premier, the former Central Bank of Congo Governor and their South African accomplice were found guilty of embezzling more than USD 285 million which was reportedly supposed to be invested in the project.
The Bukanga Lonzo Agro-Industrial Park was initiated under the regime of the immediate former President of DRC Joseph Kabila Kabange.
The DR Congo Constitutional Court has affirmed its jurisdiction to try former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, who is still the country’s legislator and currently a member of parliament in the country.
“Immunity protects the office, not the person. Matata Ponyo became a member of parliament while case proceedings had already been initiated,” said the president of the Constitutional Court.
The court was told that the charges against the legislator were being executed long before Matata Ponyo was elected into the National Assembly,” the Court President maintained in overruling all the objections raised by the defendant, Augustin Matata Ponyo.
The Bukanga Lonzo Debacle exposed a number of land rights violations and human rights abuses, pollution and health hazards, misspent funds, charges of embezzlement and corruption.
The legal action taken covered the entire period since the establishment and collapse of the Bukanga Lonzo Agro-industrial Park pilot in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).