A Congolese former prime minister, Matata Ponyo Mapon, has been convicted of embezzling millions of dollars from a large, failed agriculture venture. This is one of the most high-profile corruption cases brought under President Felix Tshisekedi against the government of his predecessor, Joseph Kabila.
Matata Ponyo Mapon, who served as prime minister from 2012 to 2016 under then-President Joseph Kabila, was convicted on Tuesday in a case involving the embezzlement of $245 million. The Constitutional Court sentenced him to 10 years of forced labor.
Deogratias Mutombo, the former governor of Congo’s central bank, was sentenced to five years of forced labor in the same case, as was Christo Grobler, a South African businessman, according to the court.
None of the three are currently in custody and all were tried in absentia. Ponyo’s lawyer, Laurent Onyemba, told Reuters that Ponyo is in Kinshasa and that the case against him was unfair and politically motivated. Congolese authorities believe Grobler is in South Africa and Mutombo is in Belgium.
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The project in question, which included a giant corn farm located 260 km southeast of Kinshasa, was promoted as the first of 22 large agricultural projects to be launched under Kabila. However, it collapsed in 2017, three years after production began. The South African company contracted to manage the project left the country, citing non-payment by the government.
The case was initiated in 2021 after investigators appointed by Tshisekedi began examining the conduct of the previous government.
Kabila, who agreed to step down in 2018 after almost two decades in power, has been out of the country since late 2023, primarily residing in South Africa. Tshisekedi’s government has accused him of having links to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who have seized territory in eastern Congo, allegations that his party denies.
