Former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Prime Minister Matata Ponyo has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with forced labor.
Matata Ponyo’s co-defendants, Déogratias Mutombo Mwana Nyembo, former governor of the Central Bank of Congo (BCC), and Christo Grobler, a South African and head of Africom firm, have been sentenced to 5 years of forced labor.
The trio had been under investigation since 2021 in connection with the debacle of the Bukanga Lonzo agro-industrial park.
The convicts were found guilty of embezzling more than $285 million related to the project, which was initiated under the regime of President Joseph Kabila Kabange.
The Constitutional Court has affirmed its jurisdiction to try former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, who is still and currently a national parliamentarian.
“Immunity protects the office, not the person. Matata Ponyo became a parliamentarian while proceedings had already been initiated before he was elected a national parliamentarian,” said the president of the Constitutional Court, rejecting all the objections raised by the defendant, Augustin Matata Ponyo.
