By David Lewis and Charlotte Van Campenhout
LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) – A Brussels court has ordered Belgian biometrics company Semlex and 13 other defendants to stand trial over alleged corruption, money laundering and tax fraud linked to a contract to produce passports in the Democratic Republic of Congo, civil parties involved in the case said.
A spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that Semlex and an unspecified number of employees were among those referred by the prosecutor to the criminal court, without giving further details.
The civil parties, including 51 Congolese citizens and anti-corruption groups who filed a suit in 2020 to join an ongoing criminal investigation, said the decision by Brussels’ Council Chamber on Monday would lead to the first trial of a Belgian company over alleged bribery of foreign public officials. Reuters could not immediately confirm the trial would be the first. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Reuters reported in 2017 that millions of dollars from the production of Congo’s biometric passports were being channelled offshore, including to a company linked to a relative of then-President Joseph Kabila. Authorities have not conclusively linked the company to the president’s relative.
“We have a right to know where our money went. This trial will finally shed light on the matter,” Fred Bauma, a Congolese human rights activist and a claimant in the civil suit, said in a statement after the decision.
The Council Chamber did not respond to a request for comment.
Semlex did not respond to an emailed request for comment. Francois Koning, a lawyer who has previously represented Semlex, declined to comment. Semlex said in a 2017 statement that it was the target of a smear campaign.
A person close to Kabila said the former president did not have any comment as he was not directly associated with the case. Kabila’s relative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not find contact information for the company.
Reuters could not determine when a trial might take place.
SCHEME LED TO $60 MILLION DIVERSION: CIVIL PARTIES
Semlex produced passports for Congo, the Central African country of 116 million people, between 2015 and 2025. Congo is one of the world’s poorest countries by GDP per capita, despite its abundant mineral reserves.
In 2017, Reuters reported the Semlex deal led to the cost of Congo’s passports nearly doubling to $185 each and that $60 from the fee for each document issued went to the company owned by Kabila’s relative.
At the time, Reuters was unable to determine how much money the Gulf company was paid.
The civil parties said on Monday the scheme is alleged to have resulted in the diversion of nearly $60 million, without giving further details.
The court referral follows years of criticism from activists and the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development over Belgium’s limited enforcement of overseas corruption cases.
The civil parties, who did not name the defendants other than Semlex, said the referral to court marked a significant step for the Belgian justice system, which they said had previously failed to sufficiently enforce anti-bribery laws.
(Reporting by David Lewis and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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