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Family members of the Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s family are appealing a Paris court ruling that sentenced them last week for money laundering and breach of trust involving embezzled public funds, the family’s lawyer told OCCRP on Tuesday.
The convictions stem from a corruption scheme in the Republic of Congo orchestrated through Propharma, a company controlled by the president’s family. According to court findings, the Congolese government awarded Propharma 2.3 million euro (about $2.7 million) in public contracts in 2013, funds that were explicitly earmarked for the purchase of vital medicines.
But the medication was never bought.
Instead, the court found that the family siphoned off 1.4 million euro ($1.6 million) in cash. They then funneled roughly 610,000 euro through a private shell company to help finance the purchase of a 960,000 euro ($1.12 million) home in France.
For their roles in what the court characterized as “laundering the proceeds of a breach of trust,” the Paris Criminal Court found the president’s niece, Emilienne Inès Mouebara Nguesso, and her husband, Habib Landry Gantsui, guilty. Both received two-year suspended prison sentences and have to pay 50,000-euro (about $54,000) in fines.
The court also ordered the confiscation of their 880,000-euro ($1,02 million) French property and the forfeiture of 39,040 euros ($45,475) seized cash. Their son, Alpha Gantsui, was convicted of the same offenses, receiving a one-year suspended sentence and a 5,000-euro ($5,824) fine.
Jean-Philippe Sportouch, a notary prosecuted alongside the family, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. He had been accused of proposing the legal structure to disguise the real estate transaction and executing it without verifying the origin of the funds.
Chanez Mensous, Advocacy and Litigation Manager for illicit financial flows at the French anti-corruption NGO Sherpa, told OCCRP that while Nguesso's conviction marks “an important step in the long trajectory of cases involving ill-gotten gains,” it remains a partial victory.
"The real impact of which will depend on the outcome of the appeal,” Mensous said. She noted that the decision is “somewhat ambiguous” because it “falls significantly short of the demands made by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office.”
Specifically, Mensous said the court failed to establish the liability of intermediaries, “which is a central element of the assessment made at this stage, and which can be re-examined during the appeal proceedings.”
Sébastien Journé, a the lawyer for the family, confirmed the appeal and struck a defiant tone, framing the verdict as a “slap in the face” to the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office.
He emphasized that the court threw out the most severe allegations against his clients, including corruption, embezzlement of public funds, and the aggravating circumstance of organized crime. By dismissing those core charges, Journé argued, the court effectively rejected the prosecution's attempt to classify the assets as “ill-gotten gains.”
As for the remaining conviction for the “alleged money laundering of breach of trust,” Journé dismissed it as legally unfounded. He noted that the Congolese company that transferred the disputed funds to the French real estate firm never complaint. Furthermore, he maintained that there was a legitimate “economic rationale” for the financial transfers, meaning no actual embezzlement took place.
