A former health minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) prosecuted and briefly detained in 2021 for alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to the fight against Covid-19 was acquitted on Wednesday by Congolese justice, his lawyer announced.

Eteni Longondo, Minister of Health from 2019 to 2021, had been suspected by the Inspectorate General of Finances (IGF) of embezzling more than $7 million earmarked for the fight against the pandemic.

Mr. Longondo, who spent around three weeks in pre-trial detention in August-September 2021, has always denied embezzling the money. "He was acquitted today by the Court of Cassation, which concluded that there were no incriminating elements", Mr. Longondo's lawyer, Hugues Pulusi Eka, told AFP.

In the DRC, the Court of Cassation is competent to rule in the first and last instance on charges brought against members of the government.

Regarding the suspicions that had triggered proceedings against the former minister, Mr. Pulusi simply pointed out that "the IGF is an OPJ (judicial police officer), not a judge". "Justice has ruled, that's the most important thing", added the lawyer.