KINSHASA\u2014 The former Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo Eteni Longondo was placed Friday under provisional arrest for alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, prison and government sources said.<\/P>
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\u201cThe former Minister of Public Health, Dr. Eteni Longondo, was questioned at length by the prosecutor at the Court of Cassation and placed under provisional arrest warrant this evening,\u201d a member of the government said.<\/P>
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\u201cDr. Eteni has indeed arrived here at the Makala central prison on the basis of a provisional arrest warrant issued by the prosecutor\u2019s office. We have installed him in pavilion 8,\u201d a prison official said.<\/P>
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Eteni Longondo, Minister of Health from 2019 until last April, is accused of \u201cmisappropriation of public funds allocated to the response\u201d against Covid-19, wrote on Twitter the Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ).<\/P>
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In August 2020, the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) had suspected the former minister Longondo of having embezzled more than 7 million dollars intended for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in the DRC, whose management is characterized by \u201cthe absence of supporting documents of expenses\u201d made.<\/P>
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Longondo has always denied having embezzled this money, arguing that \u201cthese documents were in the process of being verified by his services\u201d at the time of the audit. In November, he returned $721,900 to the public treasury, representing \u201cthe overpayment\u201d and \u201cthe difference on the decontamination of the People\u2019s Palace\u201d, the seat of parliament, as well as a \u201cdouble payment made by the Central Bank of Congo\u201d.<\/P>
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Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has made the fight against corruption one of the priorities of his term. Longondo is the first executive of the presidential party Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) to be arrested for embezzling public funds.<\/P>
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The former chief of staff to the Congolese leader, Vital Kamerhe, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzling more than $50 million to build prefabricated houses for the military and police.<\/P>
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Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK<\/P>
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