On Thursday, prosecutors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) seeked for a 20-year prison sentence for Vital Kamerhe, President Felix Tshisekedi’s chief of staff, for his alleged role in the embezzlement of more than $50m of public fundsdisqualified from holding public office for 10 years after completing his sentence, and has requested the seizure of his wife’s assets as well as those of other family members.
Even though the veteran political figure denied the wrong doing, he reportedly made a pact to back Tshisekedi in a 2018 election in the expectation of succeeding him. His supporters say the case is politically motivated, aimed at blocking his chances of challenging Tshisekedi at the next election in 2023.
A 20-year prison sentence was also sought against one of Kamerhe’s co-accused, Lebanese contractor Jammal Samih, 78, who would be deported at the end of his sentence.
The prosecutor’s office, which took nearly two hours to present its case, upheld a money laundering charge against both defendants and requested an additional sentence for “aggravated corruption”.
Kamerhe’s Paris-based lawyers said the sentence request was unconstitutional and announced that they had referred the matter to the United Nations’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the the proceedings mention the embezzlement of public money. But there is no evidence of any illicit financial flows,” Jean-Marie Kabengela and Pierre-Olivier Sur wrote in a statement.
The two lawyers also said Kamerhe’s safety was in danger in the jail where he was being held, following rumours he was responsible for the sudden death of the trial’s presiding judge last month with the Police delivering in their reports that Judge Raphael Yanyi died from a heart attack, and the results of an autopsy are still pending even though the government adviser called by the prosecution during the hearing slammed Kamerhe’s comments as an insult to the president and it’s government and as the verdict still pends. Everyone still awaits for the verdict of the case levied against the president. Africa-News reports.