The Democratic Republic of Congo ambassador in Paris, France Isabelle Tshombe, has been recalled over allegations of graft amounting to nearly $2 million.
France Isabelle is daughter of Katanga’s founding father, Moise Tshombe, who is suspected to have alligned herself with the opposition ahead of the election in the December 2023 presidential election.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Christophe Lutundula announced that a team of government investigators established grand scale corruption with funds amounting to $1.8 million embezzled.
Insiders, however, state that the investigation was not conclusive but an attempt to victimize an ambassador who had refused to allign with the ruling party.
“In the light of the report drawn up at the end of the control mission carried out by a team from the Permanent Joint Commission (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Budget and Finance), dispatched by mission order n°130/ 0204/ML/2022 of November 2, 2022, there is a calamitous management of finances in your management,” wrote Christophe Lutundula.
Lutundula claims the mismanagement of finances was as a result of unreported income from various transactions.
Based on the report, Lutundula says the ambassador in France is recalled to Kinshasa before January 15, 2023 to submit before the commission.
A close aide of Tshombe has branded as “rubbish” the charges, arguing that the envoy is victim of a political smear campaign.
