A major Constitutional Court ruling is expected later Tuesday in the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa putting an end to a prolonged legal battle of the country’s former powerful officials.
Former Prime Minister Matata Ponyo, former governor of Central Bank of Congo, and Christo Grobler, head of the South African firm Africom have been battling serious charges of gross embezzlement.
They are being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office at the Constitutional Court for alleged embezzlement of more than U$285 million from the Bukanga-Lonzo agro-industrial park project.
After several postponements and twists and turns, the Attorney General at the Constitutional Court requested 10 years of forced labor and penal servitude against Matata Ponyo and his co-defendants on Wednesday, April 23.
The prosecution immediately ordered the immediate arrest of the former Prime Minister, who also received a 10-year ban on election, according to the same indictment.
Details indicate that a five-year ineligibility sentence was requested against the former governor of the Central Bank of Congo, Déogratias Mutombo Mwana Nyembo, as well as the permanent expulsion of South African businessman Christo Grobler Stephanus from the national territory.
Following their refusal to appear at the last hearing, the Constitutional Court tried the defendants in absentia after examining the merits of the case through the depositions of inspectors from the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) who investigated the debacle of this Bukanga-Lonzo mega-project.