The news of recent days has been marked by a case of embezzlement at Gécamines, the main mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gécamines, Guy Robert Lukama, and his team allegedly embezzled the sum of 10 million dollars in bonuses which were intended for the company’s executives.
According to the IGF note, this misappropriation occurred within the Gécamines subsidiary, SIMCO, which was not yet under the control of the inspection. This stratagem would have allowed Lukama and his group to take these bonuses directly from the funds intended for Gécamines.
This embezzlement affair was revealed in September 2023, when the IGF decided to put all Gécamines subsidiaries under surveillance. According to Jules Alingete, the Inspector General head of the department, this gang of mafiosi managed to get this sum paid illegally, thus depriving Gécamines of precious resources.
The reactions were not long in coming. A coalition called “All for the DRC” claimed that the IGF was aware of this diversion before it came to light. In response, Jules Alingete clearly indicated that the IGF was not aware of these actions and that it was precisely thanks to their intervention that this mafia was brought to light.
The agents of Gécamines, who already benefit from very high salaries, have been suspended from their emoluments in order to allow the recovery of the embezzled funds. Jules Alingete stressed that the benefits of agents are strictly fixed by decrees and that any payment outside these limits is considered embezzlement.
It is important to emphasize that these embezzlements are an obstacle to the economic development of the DRC. Gécamines is a strategic company for the country, and each dollar diverted is a dollar that could have been invested in development projects, job creation or even strengthening infrastructure.
This Gécamines embezzlement case highlights once again the need for a relentless fight against corruption and financial embezzlement. The Congolese authorities must take firm measures to punish those responsible for these acts and ensure that such actions do not occur again in the future.
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