DRC-Mines-Corruption: Vidiye Tshimanga case, the tree that hides the forest of the ghost Jean-Félix Mupande!
September 27, 2022
It's an open secret. The corruption that plagues the mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is dragging on and sinks the former Strategic Advisor to Head of State Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi today, is only a vast haunted forest whose coordinator would be the Ghost Director General of the Mining Cadastre, Jean-Félix Mupande.
Indeed, on Wednesday, September 21, Vidiye Tshimanga, former Strategic Advisor to the Presidency, is placed under a provisional arrest warrant after a muscular interrogation in the prosecutor's office of the Kinshasa-Gombe Peace Court. And since September 23, "the Vidiye Tshimanga special" has been languishing in the Makala central prison put in pre-trial detention before the opening of his case. A sequence of decisions that denotes the seriousness of the ongoing judicial investigations.
It should also be noted that the Vidiye Tshimanga case is only a detail that hides the forest. COBAMIN is the path that leads to this forest where a ghost, with impunity, perpetuates corruption practices to stay in power.
December 27, 2018, by presidential order, Jean-Félix Mupande, DG of the Cadastre is dismissed from office. Strangely, it is always he who sits at the CAMI in all irregularity and illegitimacy. So what did the man who is nicknamed the ghost DG do to remain in office despite his eviction by presidential order and notwithstanding the proper notification of the Minister of Mines to the new DG?
Congo Bantu Mining, the forest path that leads to the ghost...
COBAMIN 14496 research permit
January 2019, CAMI DG Jean-Félix Mupande knows he is leaving. But the man who worked among many others to build the Mining Cadastre, wants to remain in his position at all costs. To do this, Jean-Félix Mupande, assured of the tribal support of the elite of the Katanga community, has made new allies in the entourage of the Head of State.
While it seems difficult to establish a link between the video that incriminates Vidiye Tshimanga and Jean-Félix Mupande, the licenses obtained by COBAMIN in March 2019 are revealing. Created in 2015, Congo Bantu Mining has received three licenses in prohibited mining areas.
Applications for these 3 research permits are submitted and granted in less than a month for a period of 5 years. Is it pure chance? 1 month after the swearing-in of Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, Congo Bantu Mining receives these 3 Research Permits in the territory of Mutshatsha in Lualaba in a prohibited area? Several issues, however, remain unclear in our investigations. By what mechanism did Congo Bantu Mining obtain these 3 Research Permits in record time? Has the company managed by Vidiye Tshimanga sent a formal request to the CAMI for these Research Permits that cover 370 mining squares? Was there a deposit fee for this procedure?
COBAMIN's 14497 research permit
Indeed, for the 3 Search Permits of a total of 370 mining squares, Congo Bantu Mining of Vidiye Tshimanga had to pay US$370,000 at a rate of $1,000 per square. Was this amount paid? To do this, simply consult the CAMI accounts at TMB 1201-5000288-01-78 (internal transactions), 00017-11000-50002830101-87(international transaction) and RawBank 05101-01000072401-53 USD, defined for deposit fees in accordance with Memorandum No. CAMI /DG/017/2019 of February 28, 2019. Is there still evidence at the CAMI? So many issues that justice will be able to solve in the coming days.
COBAMIN's 14498 research permit
In addition, it should be noted that for several months now, the two personalities, Vidiye Tshimanga and Jean-Félix Mupande have been landing neighbors to the CTC building. The front door of one being just in front of the other. Where did Mupande get the money to fuck this luxurious apartment?
Several files in our ongoing investigations reveal the complicity between the two personalities, Vidiye Tshimanga knowingly using the information provided to him by his protégé at the CAMI. Thus, in 2021, a clique of councillors was able to derail an agreement of about $1 billion to the Republic with a former gold mine belonging to the former president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Corneille Naanga.
Justice will have to search well to dismantle this network, which is causing the Democratic Republic of Congo to lose millions if not billions. Will it be at the height and at the rendezvous of the fight against corruption advocated by Head of State Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi?
File to follow!
Alain St. Bwembia
, regs, procedure, handbooks, policy, irrelevant of DRC's history, generally prevent public dissemination of opinion or fact. This would be a first even for the DRC. 
