The highest court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has imposed a 10-year sentence of forced labor on former Prime Minister Matata Ponyo Mapon after finding him guilty of embezzling $245 million from a failed agricultural initiative.
Ponyo, who held office from 2012 to 2016 under former President Joseph Kabila, was tried in absentia alongside former central bank governor Deogratias Mutombo and South African businessman Christo Grobler, both of whom received five-year sentences. None of the three individuals is currently in detention.
The charges stem from a large-scale corn farming project initiated during Kabila’s presidency, which failed in 2017.
Investigations into this unsuccessful venture commenced in 2021 under President Félix Tshisekedi.
Ponyo, who remains in Kinshasa, maintains his innocence and asserts that the case is politically motivated.
Authorities suspect Grobler is in South Africa and Mutombo in Belgium. Kabila, who stepped down in 2018, has been largely absent from Congo since 2023.
Tshisekedi’s administration has also accused him of supporting the M23 rebel group in the east, a claim his party refutes.
