Kinshasa March 26th, 2021 (CPA).- Kinshasa/Gombe Court of Appeal sentenced the defendants Michel Djamba Kahombe and Delphin Delon Kampay to 20 years of forced labor, respectively General Inspector of Primary, Secondary and Technical Education (EPST ) and General Director of the teachers’ payroll and control service (SECOPE), for embezzlement of funds allocated to free basic education.
This conviction was made on Thursday, during a mobile hearing for the pronouncement, held at Kinshasa penitentiary and rehabilitation center (CPRK), in DRC prosecution/civil party case against the aforementioned defendants accused of embezzlement of public funds, following the denunciations made by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) following audits carried out in these institutions. In its report published on November 18th, 2020, IGF noted the embezzlement of more than 13 billion Congolese francs by Delphin Kampay and more than 650 million Congolese francs by Michel Djamba. To this must be added the recruitment by SECOPE of 7,000 minors, 8,000 agents over the age of 65, and 34,000 fictitious teachers and education personnel but paid by the Congolese state as well as the existence of fake backdated orders establishing public schools. In addition to 20 years of forced labor, the conviction of the accused is accompanied by a deprivation of the right to vote and to stand for election for 5 years after the main sentence as well as the ban on entering the civil service. ACP/Kayu/JFM