Accused by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) of being the “intellectual responsible” for the “financial debacle” of the agro-industrial project of Bukanga Lonzo, the former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, who became a senator, denounces a file ” riddled with lies ”. He is the subject of a request for a waiver of immunity by the justice system which has seized the upper house of Parliament.
“If respect for the truth was respected, we would not even have asked for the lifting of immunity because the file of the General Inspectorate of Finance on which the initiative of this legal action is based, is a riddled file. untruths, riddled with lies, ”Matata Ponyo told the press on Sunday, May 9 in Kinshasa, a few hours after returning to the DRC.
“How can we speak of intellectual responsibility for a file which has been dealt with in the Council of Ministers? Is there only one prime minister sitting in a cabinet? If I was scared, I wouldn’t have come. As you know, I work in foreign countries as a consultant. There are even African countries that have asked me to stay in their cities permanently. But I think it’s better at home, and I’m not afraid. If I was worried about something, I wouldn’t have come home, “added the former prime minister in office between April 2012 and December 2016.
As a reminder, the Inspector General of Finance, Jules Alingeti Key, in a report published in November 2020, had indicated that 205 million USD had been embezzled out of the 285 million disbursed by the Public Treasury for the Bukanga Lonzo project. “Six people are identified as responsible, of which 2 are covered by parliamentary immunities, an expatriate, a Congolese fleeing abroad and another Congolese living in the country”, according to the Inspector General of Finance, who cited by name the former prime minister.
