Tens of millions of dollars meant for infrastructure development in Congo ended up in the hands of associates to the nation’s ex-president Joseph Kabila, according to claims from an investigative report, with involvement from a Chinese-owned shell company, a Congolese bank and global financial institutions.

$65 million was moved by Chinese businessman Du Wei through bank accounts of his shell company, Congo Construction Company (CCC) between January 2013 and July 2018, according to a newly released investigative report by Washington-based anti-corruption group Sentry.

The funds, originally meant to finance urgently needed infrastructure projects, eventually found their way to individuals and companies closely associated with Congo’s then president Joseph Kabila.

And the transactions were made from CCC’s accounts at BGFIBank DRC, partly owned by his sister and run by his brother Selemani Francis Mtwale, through to the global financial system via correspondents banks including Citibank and Commerzbank.

China Railway and Powerchina

At the center of this scandal is a $6.2 billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal – the largest investment in Congo’s history – spearheaded by China Railway Group Ltd. and Power Construction Corp. of China, also known as Powerchina. 

In the 2008 deal, Congo and China agreed that companies from the latter nation would finance $3 billion of infrastructure and build a $3.2 billion copper and cobalt project known as Sicomines which at the time was hailed as a real alternative to the strict conditioning of loans from western institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

CCC Payments to Kabila-Linked Agency

Between February and July 2013, CCC received $18 million in payment from bank accounts in China and Hong Kong held by four offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. In June of the same year, CCC also received a $1 million payment from a toll road business built by China Railway in a no-bid contract from the Congolese government. 

Most of the $19 million was sent to a government agency – the Bureau de Coordination et de Suivi du Programme Sino-Congolais – which was headed by Moise Ekanga, a Kabila ally and chief operating officer of a private firm previously owned by the ex-president, according to a separate «Bloomberg» report citing corporate documents and contracts.

In total, CCC received $55 million from foreign sources intended for Kabila and his associates, accord to Sentry, with $10 million funneled back out to safety amidst the prospect of loss of political power and control over 

CCC later funneled $10 million back out to safety as the Kabila family faced the prospect of losing both political power and control over BGFIBank DRC.

Du Wei

CCC founder Du, also known as David, is a businessman and scholar from China’s northeastern province Liaoning with high level connections from his home country and Congo. 

Previously, he worked for Sicomines and as a consultant for Kabila’s China agency before establishing CCC in 2012 with 29-year Congolese lawyer Guy Loando.

«When unscrupulous corporations want to secure lucrative projects and make obstacles disappear, they sometimes outsource their dirty work to middlemen,» said Sentry senior investigator John Dell’Osso. «These are the shady agents who deliver the proverbial sacks of cash to pay off local officials.» 

Sentry’s findings are part of a broader investigation by an international consortium of non-profit organizations and media outlets in the largest data leak in Africa’s history, dubbed the «Congo Hold-Up», with more than 3.5 million internal documents from the BGFIBank including bank statements, emails, contracts, bills and corporate records detailing millions of transactions.