Kinshasa, September 2nd, 2025 (CPA). – The former Minister in charge of Justice of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sentenced on Tuesday by the Court of Cassation to three years’ hard labour for embezzling funds allocated to compensate victims of the illegal activities of the Ugandan and Rwandan armies in Kisangani, in the north-east of the country.
‘The Court of Cassation will find that the offence of embezzlement of public funds has been established against the defendant Constant Mutamba, and will sentence him to 3 years’ hard labour and a ban on the right to vote and stand for election for 5 years after the sentence has been served’, has pronounced Jacques Kabasele, president of the composition. The Court has also banned the defendant from holding public and para-statal office at any level, and deprived him of the right to conditional release, before ordering the release of the seizure, the restitution of 19 million US dollars and the payment of legal costs. In the grounds for its ruling, the Court has substantiated the material and intentional elements of the offence of embezzlement of public funds against the defendant Constant Mutamba.
With regard to the material element, the Court, basing itself on the criminal law, has described the act of transfer by the defendant Constant Mutamba of 19 million from the account of the Ministry in charge of Justice to that of the company Zion Construction as ‘misappropriation’. As for the intentional element, the Court has cited a number of actions taken by the honorary minister in charge of justice that indicate embezzlement, in particular the fact that he has violated the rules of procedure by knowingly ignoring all the services that should be involved in managing the construction project, and his late repentance. ‘The late repentance can be seen in his correspondence to the Minister in charge of ITPR requesting the expertise of engineers when the Zion Construction account had already been blocked’, has added Judge Jacques Kabasele.
Indictment of former minister Mutamba
In his letter of Wednesday June 11th, 2025 informing the Minister in charge of Justice of the closure of his indictment, Public Prosecutor Firmin Mvonde had invited him to remain ‘calm for the continuation of the proceedings’, while reassuring him that ‘as a good legalist, he has confined himself to what is legally prescribed, and this, apart from any other consideration’. The former Minister in charge of Justice had been questioned twice at the offices of the General Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Cassation.
The conclusions of the Prosecutor General’s investigation had led to an assertion of misappropriation of public funds, which had prompted him to request, on June 9th, 2025, that the National Assembly authorise the impeachment of Minister Mutamba. Remember that the prosecuting magistrate had requested a sentence of ten (10) years’ hard labour against Mutamba for misappropriation of public funds.
« Your august court will therefore be pleased to declare that the offence of misappropriation of public funds for which Constant Mutamba is charged is established in fact as well as in law. You will sentence him to ten (10) years’ hard labour and disqualification from voting and standing for election for ten (10) years », Floribert Vola, the public prosecutor, had requested. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the sentence of hard labour is commuted to imprisonment. This practice is now considered by doctrine and jurisprudence to be an undeniable source of law. CPA/