OCC: 20 days granted to Tshimanga to explain his opaque management
Julien Paluku calls Étienne Tshimanga to account. The Minister of Foreign Trade criticizes the Director General of the Congolese Control Office for the establishment of a parallel IT administration for the management of import controls. This opaque system, operating outside of official protocols, condemns Julien Paluku, is particularly active at the level of the Provincial Directorate of Matadi.
Even more serious, observes the head of Foreign Trade, information indicates the ongoing deployment of the same parallel system in the Katanga area, confirming an intention to generalize fraud on a national scale. In a letter requesting an explanation addressed to the Director General of the OCC, the Minister indicates that the duplication of this system has favored the fraudulent use of BIVAC BV verification certificates. “To date, the direct financial loss for the OCC informed at my level is estimated at more than Twenty-five million US dollars, for the 2025 financial year alone. This shortfall constitutes an economic crime against the Office and, by extension, against the Public Treasury,” noted Ouragan in the document dated January 28.
Another complaint against Étienne Tshimanga is the irresponsible management of human resources and violation of instructions. While the Office experiences chronic difficulties in honoring the payment of staff salaries within the legal deadlines, thus creating a deleterious social climate, Paluku accuses the same agent of having made massive commitments and fraudulent grade promotions at the same time. “As part of monitoring the management of public companies under my supervision, exceptionally serious facts have been reported to me which testify to a clear desire to free ourselves from the administrative, financial and ethical rules governing the Congolese Control Office. These acts, carried out in defiance of my formal austerity instructions, deliberately increase the wage bill to the detriment of social peace,” he lamented.
The DG of the OCC therefore has 20 days, according to correspondence from the Minister of Foreign Trade, to provide his written and documented explanations both on the opaque parallel computer system and on the evaporation of revenues due to false verification certificates (AV) under his supervision, estimated at 6,640 files.
