Congo Says It Won't Renew Contract With Passport Maker Semlex
Democratic Republic of Congo will not renew a contract with
Belgian manufacturer Semlex to make its passports, according to a senior
official and a letter seen by Reuters.
Prosecutors have been investigating allegations of money
laundering and corruption by Semlex, which makes biometric passports for Congo
under a contract agreed under former president Joseph Kabila that expires on
June 11.
In a 2017 report, Reuters detailed
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/congo-passports how Semlex,
which supplies passports to various African countries, won the contract.
The deal greatly increased the price citizens have to pay
for passports, and documents showed a Gulf company owned by a relative of
Congo’s then-president received almost a third of the revenues.
In a letter dated May 7 seen by Reuters, Congo's minister of
foreign affairs, Marie Tumba Nzeza, told Semlex that the government did not
plan to renew the contract. The spokesman for Congo's presidency, Kasongo
Mwema, confirmed that the contract would not be renewed.
Luc Stalars, a lawyer for Semlex, did not immediately
respond to an emailed request for comment. He has previously denied all
accusations of impropriety by the company, calling them part of a
"defamatory smear campaign".
He has previously referred Reuters to a company statement
from 2017 that said that Semlex's "economic success, in particular on the
African continent, has apparently given rise to increasing jealousy or even
strategic frustration".
Reuters could not immediately determine who will produce
passports after June 11.
At $185, Congo's passport is among the world's most
expensive, even though its people are on average among the poorest.
Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has promised to clear up
corruption that campaign groups say flourished under his predecessor.
Belgian prosecutors launched an investigation into possible
money laundering and corruption soon after Reuters' report and raided the
company’s headquarters in 2018, but they have not made any further comment on
the investigation since then.
Last week, Congolese citizens and international campaign
groups filed a civil action in Belgium against Semlex.
The petition, which was organised by anti-corruption
campaign group Congo Is Not For Sale (CINFS), allows the petitioners to ask for
case records related to the Belgian investigation and request further
investigative measures.
Fred Bauma, a member of CINFS, said the ending of the
contract with Semlex would be a "good first step" if officially
announced but called for a transparent process to select a successor and a
significantly lower passport price.
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