The United States has designated three Congolese officials as generally ineligible for entry into its territories due to their involvement in “significant corruption”.
Spokeperson of the US State Department Mathew Miller said in a statement that the designation included Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, the former Director General of Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN).
It also included Leonard Muamba Kanda, the former Department Head of the DRC Management Authority for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Director of ICCN, and Augustin Ngumbi Amuri, the Director-Coordinator of the DRC CITES Management Authority and Legal Advisor to ICCN, he added.
“As public officials responsible for wildlife protection, they abused their public positions by trafficking chimpanzees, gorillas, okapi, and other protected wildlife from the DRC, primarily to the People?’s Republic of China, using falsified permits, in return for bribes,” he said.
“Their corrupt, transnational criminal actions not only undermined rule of law and government transparency in the DRC but also long-standing wildlife conservation efforts,” the spokesperson noted
Source: Kuwait News Agency