Belgian police raided the homes of several relatives and associates of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Wednesday as part of an investigation into money laundering linked to mining revenues, two lawyers who filed the complaint said.
The searches add to pressure on Tshisekedi, who faces security challenges in eastern Congo with an armed rebellion now led by his predecessor, Joseph Kabila, a deadly Ebola outbreak and growing opposition criticism over his alleged plans to seek a third term.
The government has also sought to attract investment into Congo’s mining sector, which holds some of the world’s largest reserves of copper, cobalt and other strategic minerals but has long been dogged by corruption allegations.
Belgian lawyer Bernard Maingain and France-based Congolese attorney Herve Diakese, who represent a group of NGOs from the southern Katanga province, known as DESC/RDC, said the raids were carried out as part of an investigation opened after the NGOs filed a complaint in Brussels.
“The complaint in Belgium concerns the capture of resources by Belgian citizens and the laundering of funds derived from the misappropriation of mining revenues and resources belonging to local communities, to the detriment of the Congolese state,” Diakese said.
“These proceeds have enabled those involved to maintain lifestyles far beyond what their legitimate income would allow,” he added.
The complaint was filed in Belgium in 2025 because several of the people named are Belgian citizens residing in Belgium.
A spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that police conducted searches at several addresses in Brussels and its northern and southern suburbs as part of a money-laundering investigation stemming from a complaint filed by NGOs in 2025.
She declined to confirm whether those targeted were relatives of Tshisekedi.
A spokesperson for the Congolese presidency declined to comment.
Diakese said the complaint targeted not only members of Tshisekedi’s immediate family but also individuals from a broader circle of people close to the president.
Source: Reuters