Overview

• The Court of Cassation in Kinshasa sentenced Mutamba to three years of hard labor, barred him from high office for five years, and ordered repayment of the funds.
• Judges ruled he funneled $19.9 million to Zion Construction without required government approval in a deal tied to a Kisangani prison project.
• Mutamba pleaded not guilty, denied taking public money, and has called the case a political plot against him.
• His lawyer condemned the ruling as flawed and insisted Mutamba did not steal the money.
• Heavy security ringed the Kinshasa courthouse as the verdict was delivered, and the case has become a gauge of the government’s anti-corruption drive versus claims of selective justice.