Kinshasa, April 22nd, 2026 (CPA).- An alleged embezzlement of $3.3 million from a fund intended for victims, disbursed for the rehabilitation of the Kisangani Zoo in the Tshopo Province (northeast) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been established by the General Inspection of Finance (IGF), according to a statement consulted on Wednesday. “The information available at this stage, corroborated by on-site findings as well as by the report of the General Inspection of Finance, reveals a significant and unjustified discrepancy of $3,300,000 between the amount initially requested ($700,000) and the funds actually disbursed (USD 4,000,000), a clear discrepancy between the level of work completed and the amounts committed, as well as serious deficiencies in control, document traceability, and technical supervision,” we have read in the statement from the Ministry in charge of Justice’s communications unit.
According to the source, these facts, which relate to the contract concluded between the Fund for Reparation and Compensation of Victims of Illegal Activities in Uganda (FRIVAO) and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) regarding the rehabilitation of the aforementioned garden, constitute grounds justifying the initiation of public proceedings and the conduct of appropriate investigations to protect public funds, the rights of victims, the prosecution of breaches of integrity, and the fight against impunity. The Ministry in charge of Justice, which has emphasized that this directive must be carried out in accordance with the independence of the courts, the adversarial principle, and the rights of the defence, intends in particular to contribute to strengthen the rule of law as well as community-based justice—one of the missions that Guillaume Ngefa has set himself since his appointment as head of the ministry.
Last April 17th, the Prosecutor General at the Court of Cassation had been ordered to open judicial investigations into acts that may constitute offenses of embezzlement of public funds, corruption, extortion, and other related offenses provided for and punishable under the Penal Code, concerning the management of this fund.
On Tuesday, April 21st, Chanchard Bolukola, former acting coordinator of FRIVAO, has been called upon, at the opening of the trial in Kinshasa, to account for the management of the funds. He is accused of having approved the awarding public contracts estimated at nearly two million dollars to two companies whose legal existence the public prosecutor’s office was unable to verify. In addition to this trial against the former Frivao coordinator for alleged embezzlement of funds intended for victims of the Kisangani war, other judicial investigations are underway regarding the management of the funds, following suspicions of “massive” fraud in the compensation of victims. These investigations concern the entire management of the funds since their creation, we have learned.