Auditors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have uncovered a massive public payroll fraud, involving tens of thousands of ghost workers across government ministries, costing the public purse over US$800 million annually, according to astatement from the General Inspectorate of Finance.

The Swiss commodity trading and mining giant Glencorewill pay US$180 million to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after reaching an agreement with Congolese authorities on allegations of corruption between 2007 and 2018.

A special adviser to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi resigned after a tape from an apparent sting operation,released and analyzed by OCCRP, showed him negotiating a corrupt mining deal.

The anti-corruption agency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said that it found severe irregularities in the operations of the state-owned mining giant Gécamines, including instances of embezzlement that have deprived the state budget of hundreds of million dollars.

U.S authorities in Seattle arrested two men from the Democratic Republic of the Congo for smuggling several small packages of ivory into the country to strike a deal with a buyer to bring over a much larger load. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a new gold rush in Central Africa, with organized groups cashing in on the surge in the commodity’s price and smuggling illicit gold to neighboring countries via air or inland, Interpol said Wednesday in a new report.

The complete breakdown of law and order in the Democratic Republic of the Congo two decades ago has given birth to local youth gangs, which have taken over neighborhoods of all major cities in the country and are often colluding with law enforcement, according to a recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday announced that it has re-imposed economic sanctions on an Israeli billionaire, accused of “extensive” public corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the Trump administration lifted them in its final days in office.

Two former employees of a bank based in the Democratic Republic of Congo could face a death sentence after blowing the whistle on the financial institution’s alleged secret networks engaged in money laundering and bypassing international sanctions.

The years-long rise in international gold prices has driven a new artisanal gold mining and refining rush in conflict-affected areas in East and Central Africa and has turned the United Arab Emirates into the foremost launderer of such gold, according to a new report from The Sentry.

A Canadian non-governmental organization urged the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbors to crack down on the illicit mining and trade of gold which has been robbing citizens of millions of dollars in taxes every year.

Swiss prosecutors have launched a second investigation against mining company Glencore International AG, this time for failing to put organizational measures in place to prevent alleged corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Authorities in DR Congo (DRC) detained on Sunday the former health minister, accusing him of having embezzled about US$4.3 million raised to tackle the Ebola epidemic.

Two whistleblowers are suing a Gabonese bank for personal damages after revealing its involvement in corruption and terrorism financing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The US Department of Justice is seeking documents from the world’s largest commodities trader, Glencore, over intermediary companies that it uses in Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

One of the world's largest oil traders turned to a Belgian passport maker to get access to African officials and their oil fields. But one employee admitted to giving bribes to make that happen.

President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou-Nguesso at a Food Security Summit in Rome, 2009. Credit: Pier Paolo Cito / Reuters

The US Justice Department Monday ordered Glencore, a Switzerland-based mining giant, to hand over documents relating to alleged money laundering and corruption. Following the announcement, shares in the firm hit a one-year low.

A tax-exempt company said it would supply inexpensive food to the people of the DRC. But leaked documents reveal that it received millions from the central bank illegally -- only for the money to disappear into accounts linked to the president’s cronies.

UNICEF distributes food in South Kivu, DRC. (Julien Harneis, CC BY-SA 2.0)

More than US$ 750 million in mining revenues disappeared from the coffers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo over a three-year period, according to a report released Friday.

Malaysian authorities seized US$ 2.12 million worth of scales from pangolins, the world’s most poached animal, in what officials called Monday the country’s largest ever haul.