Democratic Republic of Congo’s Inspector General of Finance, Victor Batubenga, and one other inspector was reportedly detained for questioning for several hours on Saturday, reported Reuters.
In an interview with Reuters, Sylvain Kasongo, the capital Kinshasa’s police chief, confirmed that Inspector General of Finances Batubenga and one of his colleagues had been detained for several hours before being released. He said the arrests were made for matters of common law, but, declined to offer any more detail.
Batubenga said the arrest was retaliation for investigations by his office into spending by senior government officials. According to a report which his office issued in July, the team has been investigating a $100 million line of credit opened in May by the central bank at the instruction of the interim economy minister to reimburse fuel distributors.
Last month, the National Intelligence Agency also ordered the public finances watchdog to audit the interim government’s spending in place since President Felix Tshisekedi’s inauguration in January. The intelligence agency said the audit of government spending since January was required “for urgent reasons of state security”, without elaborating.
Since taking place, Tshisekedi has pledged to wipe out corruption which he said proliferated during his predecessor Joseph Kabila’s 18-year tenure. But, several civil society groups have accused his administration of profligate spending. The President has denied all the charges.
Batubenga told Radio France Internationale that after the police arrested him and one of his colleagues, they were held by an aide to Tshisekedi’s national security advisor, Francois Beya.
“The aide (to Beya) … said my work was causing problems,” Batubenga said. He said the aide also made threats against him and his family.
President Tshisekedi’s interim cabinet consists largely of holdovers from Kabila’s final government. New ministers were finally named last week and are expected to be sworn in this week.
