DRC president’s adviser received payments in biometric passport deal
Kinshasa — In June 2015, the Belgian company Semlex signed a deal to supply biometric passports to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to documents reviewed by Reuters. A few weeks later two companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made payments totalling $700,000 to private bank accounts held in the name of Emmanuel Adrupiako, a Joseph Kabila adviser who helped handle the passport deal, according to bank documents and e-mails reviewed by Reuters. The two UAE-based companies have connections to Semlex, but it isn’t clear whether the payments were related to the passport deal. Adrupiako did not respond to requests for comment. One of the UAE-based companies was named Berea International and the other Cedovane, both registered in Ras Al Khaimah. Officials at the emirate’s corporate regulator, RAK Investment Authority, would not comment on either of the companies, citing confidentiality rules. However, Reuters reviewed an "incumbency certificate" for Berea — an o...
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