A US financial company has accused officials in a central African country and multiple states of bribery and contract interference that led to the collapse of a landmark digital banking joint venture.
An Idaho-based pay services bank is suing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), its portfolio ministries and several individuals for more than $4.09 billion, alleging bribery and civil conspiracy to derail the crucial ITAM Congo-Kinshasa project aimed at revamping the DRC’s state-owned bank and digitizing the national economy.
The U.S. financial institution filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho on January 8, alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, civil conspiracy, and unjust enrichment.
controversy
According to the filing, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo invited PayService to its embassy in Washington, D.C., in late 2023 to present plans for the ITAM Congo-Kinshasa project. Congo’s national bank, Banque Centrale de Congo (BCC), estimated that the project would generate potential revenues of more than US$8 billion, which would be divided equally between the DRC and PayServices.
PayServices said it poured more than $72 million in technology and services into the DRC to launch the joint venture project, but then “several corrupt DRC officials” (each defendant) conspired to sabotage the project “in direct defiance” of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi’s orders.
“Millions in bribes”
The complaint alleges that the defendants conspired to solicit millions of dollars in bribes from PayServices and steal the company’s intellectual property. Because these requests were denied by PayServices, the filing alleges, the individual defendants conspired to sabotage, breach the contract, and terminate the project “perhaps for the benefit of competing technology companies that, by contrast, would pay these bribes to the individual defendants.”
The plaintiffs say the business is backed by a $20 million investment agreement in PayServices by the U.S.-based state government of Idaho, and that DRC’s blocking of this payment has caused “huge economic loss” to the state.
PayServices seeks to recover direct damages totaling more than $4.092 billion, as well as $72 million in invested capital and a portion of lost profits.
“malicious act”
The filing states that “the resulting violations by the DRC were caused not by simple default, but by the malicious conduct of the individual defendants. As alleged (…) this included collusion by the individual defendants to solicit bribes, sabotage the project in direct violation of Executive Orders, and introduce competitors to steal PayServices’ intellectual property in direct violation of binding exclusivity agreements.”
The individual defendants include Portfolio Minister Julie Sik, who was deputy chief of staff at the Treasury at the time of the alleged offences. The current Minister of Finance, Dudu Likunde. Anthony Kamore, DRC Presidential Chief of Staff; Celestine Mountuabu, Director General, Congo Savings Bank (CADECO); and BCC Governor and former Presidential Chief of Staff Andre Nkuaroloki.
PayServices Bank is represented by Charles Parker and Andres Sanchez of Parker Sanchez & Donnelly and John Kurtz of Kurtz Law.
In other dispute developments, mining company Ntega Holding Burundi started arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Burundi earlier this month, five years after Burundi suspended international mining operations in the East African country.
