‘Panama papers’ show president's sister has Vodacom DRC stake

‘Panama papers’ show president's sister has Vodacom DRC stake

The so-called Panama papers – leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca – show that the twin sister of the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a director of Keratsu Holding, which holds a 9.6% stake in Vodacom’s operation in the country.

Jaynet Kabila, who is also the daughter of a previous DRC president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, owns half of Keratsu.


Investigation by Bloomberg and others, based on the revelations of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists into the Mossack Fonseca documents, shows that this is one element of the wealth built up by the family.

Her involvement in the Keratsu company was not previously known, says Bloomberg. The holding is through a company registered in Niue, a small state in the South Pacific with a population of 1,200.

UK-based Vodafone owns 65% of the Vodacom group, based in South Africa, which in turn controls Vodacom DRC.

“Members of Kabila’s family have accumulated huge wealth, including stakes in companies in offshore tax havens,” opposition leader and legislator Martin Fayulu told Bloomberg. “We need an urgent inquiry and we need to demand the repatriation of these monies.”

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