Congolese Opposition Leader Moise Katumbi Allegedly to be Indicted for Corruption

Congolese Opposition Leader Moise Katumbi

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Following  a series of desertions of high ranking ministers and inner circle members of Joseph Kabila, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)  tycoon Moise Katumbi finally joined the movement on September 30, 2015.

He followed another heavyweight and closest Joseph Kabila's backer, Olivier Kamitatu,  who allegedly has closest personal and family ties.

 On September 30, 2015, in an earthshaking announcement,  Moise Katumbi resigned from his position of Governor of Katanga and leader of the Joseph Kabila's political coalition, PPRD.   He posted, on his Twitter account, that he had decided to distance himself from Joseph Kabila's political family because the state institutions were being turned into an autocratic system.

After his desertion, Joseph Kabila's aides and security services started attacking Moise Katumbi in local medias of being a foreigner and married to a woman of  Rwandan or Burundian descent. Moise Katumbi is  from a mixed background, with Black Congolese and European Jewish parents. 

After the unsuccessful attacks, the DRC government has tried to look into another possibility. According to sources in Kinshasa, public officials in banking, judiciary,  and treasury institutions have allegedly  been given orders from the DRC Presidential office to look into the financial operations conducted by businesses owned by Moise Katumbi. The aim is to find enough evidences to indict Moise Katumbi of economical crimes, including financial misconduct, embezzlement, and corruption.

According to the same sources,  the incriminating evidences must be found. Once the case is established based on these evidences, an arrest warrant  against Moise Katumbi will be issued. 

However, it appears that Moise Katumbi learned about the investigations and hastily left the country over the last days on his private jet, for Europe. The DRC Government, after  learning of the fact that Moise Katumbi has left the country plans to issue the arrest warrant through Interpol.