Luxury Lifestyle of the Congolese President's Entourage Attracts Attention of French Investigators

Julienne Sassou-Nguesso and Guy Johnson, the
daughter and son-in-law of the president of the
Republic of the Congo, are under investigation for
money laundering of embezzled funds as part of the
high-profile “Ill-gotten goods” inquiry. This development
follows the investigation into Wilfrid Nguesso, the
president's nephew.
Launched by the French justice system, the wide-
ranging inquiry focuses on the assets of three African
presidents, their families, and their entourages. The
secretive way these funds have been accumulated and
held outside the presidents’ own countries has
attracted the attention of several anti-corruption
bodies.
The French-language website Oeil d'Afrique
summarised the background of the case:
Since 2010, inquiry judges have been
examining allegations that
three presidential families have built large
fortunes by taking public money from their
own countries and siphoning it through
intermediaries and off-shore companies
located in tax havens. The presidents in
question are the late Omar Bongo of
Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the
Republic of the Congo, and Teodoro Obiang
Nguema of Equitorial Guinea.
In this case, the judges also intend to probe links
between Julienne Sassou-Nguesso and Guy Johnson
and companies registered abroad, for example in
Mauritius, the British Virgin Islands, Dubai and Hong
Kong. The website afriqueexpansion.com explains :
The investigators are trying to find out
whether offshore companies in Mauritius,
the British Virgin Islands, Dubai and Hong
Kong have been used to fund numerous
purchases in France, according to a source
close to the case. Between 2008 and 2011,
tens of millions of euros from the
Congolese public purse are thought to have
passed through these companies.
The investigations are also centered on
Socotram — the Congolese Maritime
Transport Association, which collects
license fees from shipping and the
transport of crude oil. Wilfred Nguesso is
head of the organisation. The same source
indicates that both he and his entourage
may have benefited from the embezzlement
of the association's funds.
Mr Nguesso contests this, denying that
Socotram is able to collect public funds.
After the first accusations in 2007 and
2008, which were never followed up, the
NGO Transparency International lodged a
civil complaint. This led to the opening of a
judicial investigation in 2010 by specialist
financial judges.
Journalist Eunice Kaoumé has researched the affair
closely. She reports that Julienne Sassou-Nguesso was
once an insurance agent and that Guy Johnson
practises law. Here follows what she has written
for afrikmag.com :
According to the investigations, it is
thought that several tens of millions of
euros from public bodies in Congo-
Brazzaville have been transferred to the
accounts of different offshore businesses
based in the Seychelles, Mauritius and
Hong Kong since 2007. A well-informed
source says that these funds are believed
to partly finance the lifestyle of certain
members of the president's circle.
The same source affirms that investigators
think the couple may have financed some
of the work with the sale of Julienne
Sassou-Nguesso's share of a
telecommunications company thought to be
linked to “corrupt dealings”. Funds are
believed to have been siphoned through a
Seychellois company. The role of the
president's son-in-law, Guy Johnson, is also
under scrutiny. He is the director of a
private property company which bought a
distinctive hotel for some 19 million
euros in the well-heeled 8th Arrondissement
of Paris in 2007. Notably, the shares of the
property company were held by members of
Omar Bongo's circle, as well as his wife,
the now deceased Edith Lucie Bongo
Ondimba, who was the eldest daughter of
the Congolese President Sassou-Nguesso.
Judicial authorities have already seized
properties belonging to the Sassou-Nguesso
clan, as well as 10 or so luxury cars.
In a declaration reported by the website dac-
presse.com, Lamyr Nguelé, president of the Congolese
National Commission against Corruption,
Misappropriation and Fraud (CNCCF), noted in July
2016 that corruption is a serious problem in his
country:
The most corrupt sectors are customs, tax
collection and the treasury. Furthermore,
Congo's perception of corruption index
fluctuated between 2.1 and 2.3 in the years
2015-2016, according to Transparency
International.
In the health sector, corruption endures
despite decrees from the head of state to
introduce free treatments for tuberculosis,
HIV/AIDS, caesarian sections and other
obstetric procedures, and malaria.
Indeed, dishonest officials still practice
their dark arts in the hospitals. Taking
medication from patient's bags, they sell it
back to relatives, who are forced buy in
order to keep their loved-one alive. “If we
don't buy the medication, they object to
treating the sick person as a punishment to
those who have refused”, confided a parent
whose son was suffering from diarrhoea
and vomiting.
But he admitted the commission's power is limited :
When the facts come out, we send the file
or files to the prosecutor to begin
proceedings. The CNCCF does not have the
power to do so. Unfortunately it must be
said that none of our files has been the
subject of a legal action.
That is tantamount to calling the institution an empty
shell, with no other use than to create a smokescreen
to the international community. Moreover,
Transparency International's 2016 report ranks the
Republic of Congo 159th out of 170 countries,
according to its Corruption Perceptions Index.

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