A powerful top aide to DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi went on trial for corruption on Monday in a case without precedent in the vast African country.
Tshisekedi’s chief of staff, Vital Kamerhe, who has been at the very heart of political life in DR Congo for two decades, is accused of embezzling more than $50 million.
Kamerhe’s supporters charge that the case is politically motivated, a possible attempt to prevent him from running in the next presidential election in three years’ time. Kamerhe, once a pillar of the regime of former president Joseph Kabila, is the leader of the influential Union for the Congolese Nation and previously served as parliamentary speaker.He emerged as Tshisekedi’s main ally in his quest for power after Kamerhe himself bowed out of the presidential race in December 2018, the first peaceful power transfer in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although Kamerhe’s arrest is seen as a strong signal in the anti-graft fight, some remain sceptical, seeing the case as a possible settling of scores within the governing coalition. The trial was initially expected to be held in Kinshasa’s high court but was later moved to the prison complex where Kamerhe has been held for more than a month.
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