NGOs issue statement calling for action to investigate money laundering of Congolese funds within SA properties
The original article is from PPLAAF's "Civil society organisations urge prosecutors to investigate looted Congolese funds stashed in South African properties" published on 14 November 2024
Today civil society organisations based in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Senegal call on the South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to act swiftly on a criminal complaint, involving serious international money laundering offences. The complaint was submitted to the NPA 19 months ago without any indication of action by law enforcement to seek accountability for these crimes.
Open Secrets, the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) and Le Congo N’est Pas Á Vendre (The Congo is Not For Sale) have issued this joint statement. These civil society organisations are concerned by the lack of action by South African law enforcement following the submission of evidence which shows how stolen Congolese funds were used to purchase South African properties by corrupt Congolese politicians.
In April 2023, Open Secrets, PPLAAF and Congolese organisations Congo Nouveau, Afrewatch and CDC/RN submitted a criminal complaint to the NPA. The complaint sets out how the adopted brother of former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – Francis Selemani – procured property in South Africa from the proceeds of corruption in the DRC. The hope was that an NPA investigation into Selemani would lead to the seizure of his South African assets and the proceeds returned to the Congolese people. Despite numerous attempts requesting updates on the status of the investigation the NPA has provided no formal updates on the matter since 9 April 2024.
Evidence within the complaint primarily originates from the unprecedented #CongoHoldUp investigation. In 2021, PPLAAF, Médiapart and their partners published findings from #CongoHoldUp based on over 3.5 million documents that revealed how BGFI Bank was used to plunder the DRC public funds and natural resources, largely for the enrichment of former President Joseph Kabila’s inner circle. #CongoHoldUp included an investigative report by U.S based investigative non-profit, The Sentry called “Embezzled Empire’.
The report detailed how Francis Selemani stashed millions through the purchase of numerous luxury homes in the United States and South Africa, it appears at least in part using funds diverted from the Congolese government. Evidence from #CongoHoldUp and Embezzled Empire also informed the DRC case study in Open Secrets’ investigative report ‘For Sale- South Africa’s Property Laundromat’.
The urgency for action is clear. A new investigative alert released today by The Sentry reveals that six of Selemani’s 16 South African properties have already been sold to new owners since the release of #CongoHoldup. Lack of action by South African authorities has meant that as those properties are sold off, the money vanishes and becomes unrecoverable.
“An investigation into Selamani’s assets in South Africa is crucial, but real justice needs accountability both abroad and at home,” said Congolese whistleblower, Jean-Jacques Lumumba, “The people of the Congo have been exploited and continue to endure the impact of this corruption. Authorities must act and assets must be seized.”
Avenues for accountability have also been sought within the DRC. This week, DRC based coalition ‘Congo is Not for Sale’ has also called for accountability that urged local Congolese authorities to take action on the evidence against Kabila and his inner circle.
Additionally, in 2023, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office raided the office of the subsidiary of BGFI in France.Belgian authorities have opened two investigations, one for “corruption of foreign public officials” against Belgian millionaire Philippe de Moerloose, and another targeting the former governor of the Central Bank of Congo for money laundering. An investigation into dubious transactions in Switzerland is also targeting Kabila’s clan, de Moerloose, and Swiss banks.
South Africa’s failure to hold the corrupt accountable is one of the key reasons behind its greylisting by the FATF. It is imperative that cases like these are addressed by law enforcement agencies like the NPA. South Africa cannot be the playground of the world’s corrupt criminal elites. We call on the NPA to urgently take this matter forward and provide justice for the Congolese people whose lives and livelihoods continue to be stolen.
Recently, PPLAAF published a similar story about the alleged corruption of Nigerian National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, who invested government funds into US real estate. Read More - "United States: Luxury Real Estate Traced to Major Nigerian Corruption Scandal"