The DR Congo’s justice minister is prohibited from traveling due to allegations of theft

Constant Mutamba, the minister of justice for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been placed under travel restrictions after the National Assembly approved legal action against him on Sunday, June 15, due to embezzlement charges.

322 of 363 MPs voted in favor of Mutamba’s prosecution during a plenary session on Sunday night, while 29 voted against it and 12 abstained.

The parliamentary decision to revoke Mutamba’s immunity informed the travel restriction, according to a letter sent on Monday by Prosecutor General Firmin Mvonde to the Directorate General of Migration.

“I have decided to forbid the aforementioned Mutamba from leaving the City of Kinshasa,” Mvonde wrote in the letter that was reported by Congolese media.

For allegedly embezzling money intended for the building of a prison in Kisangani, Tshopo Province, Mutamba is facing charges. He is charged with embezzlement of approximately $19 million for the prison’s construction.

According to the Congolese constitution, local media claimed that the member of Prime Minister Judith Suminwa’s ministry is expected to step down following the parliamentary decision that removed his immunity.