Minister of Lands Acacia Bandubola has just thrown out a serious scandal involving multi-million dollar worth properties which were procured through criminal means by her predecessor Molendo Sakombi otherwise known as the “Congo land mafia”.
Sakombi has not claimed ownership of properties which have remained unclaimed but still not in the authorities’ possession while the criminal proceedings involving the scandal took place.
However, the case has since been thrown out of the Ministry of Lands without unmasking the real owner of the properties thanks to the intervention of Bandubola who has spent just six months in office.
Bandubola replaced Sakombi at the top of the Ministry of Lands in the new cabinet formed by Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka while the latter was transferred to the Ministry of Hydrocarbons; a move taken to conceal the Land Mafia’s legacy of misdeeds.
Sakombi who is a real estate broker at a nebulous company called SOGECO, has been repeatedly fingered in land scandals across the DR Congo while with the said firm.
As of 2018, SOGECO’s sole shareholder was Sakombi’s wife Blanche Mushemvula who sold off 100% shares to foreign investment firms immediately after her husband was appointed as Minister in 2019.
Prior to his appointment as Minister, Sakombi had been well known in the courts and tribunals for several acts of real estate fraud.
