Son of Congo-Brazzaville president accused of siphoning off $50m
THE son of CongoBrazzaville’s president has misappropriated $50m (£41m) of public money by routing it through shell companies and secrecy jurisdictions, according to a new investigation.
Six countries in the EU, the US state of Delaware and the British Virgin Islands all played a key role in Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso’s scheme, according to Global Witness. The campaign group said the money was siphoned off through an apparent sham contract Congo-Brazzaville had with a Brazilian infrastructure company.
The money-laundering scheme said to have been used by Sassou-Nguesso, an MP as well as the son and namesake of the man who has spent 35 years as president, is similar to the one his sister Claudia allegedly used to steal $20m of state funds, part of which she used to buy a luxury apartment in Trump Tower in New York, allegations she has denied.
Investigators obtained documents that they said showed $675m left Congo-Brazzaville’s treasury, and that sums totalling more than $50m subsequently went through companies in Delaware and the British Virgin Islands before reaching Cyprus. Cypriot companies secretly owned by Sassou-Nguesso received the money, Global Witness said, and he used it to make payments to companies based in Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The alleged embezzlement dates from 2013 and 2014.
“As we followed the trail of money we found that it was funnelled through several jurisdictions which pride themselves on having strong anti-money laundering regimes, such as the EU and the US,” said Mariana Abreu, who led the investigation.
The global financial system is supposed to prevent kleptocrats from robbing their citizens, but there are significant loopholes. An estimated $90bn is laundered through the UK every year. Congo-Brazzaville has large oil reserves, but almost half of its people live in poverty.
A Portuguese businessman who is already under investigation for corruption, José Veiga, allegedly facilitated part of the money-laundering, by helping secure public works contracts in Congo-Brazzaville for the Brazilian company Asperbras.