Augustin Matata Ponyo
Source: Africa Publicity
An ex-prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour for stealing millions of dollars of state funds.
Ponyo was sentenced on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 by theCongolese Constitutional Court alongside Deogratias Mutombo, the former governor of the DR Congo’s central bank. Mutombo has also been jailed for five years with hard labour in the same case.
The former Prime Minister was found guilty of embezzling about $245 million (£182 million) of public funds.
However, his lawyer told Reuters news agency that the ruling was unfair and politically motivated.
Part of the funds were taken from a major agricultural development intended to tackle DR Congo’s chronic food shortages.
Matata served as prime minister of the DRC from 2012 to 2016.
He is currently head Congo’s Leadership and Governance for Development party (LGD).
Before assuming office as Prime Minister, Ponyo was DR Congo’s finance minister.
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