A group of media sources and non-governmental organizations from all over the world are looking into a scandal involving the former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila. The scandal involves the theft of millions of dollars. Their work has given more information about what Harish Jagtani, an Indian-born investor who lives in the DRC, is said to have done.
Who is Harish Jagtani?
According to the website for his company, Harish Jagtani is an Indian businessman, humanitarian, and visionary who has lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo for over 20 years. He is one of the most well-known business owners in the Indian diaspora and the business community of ex-pats in DRC as a whole. HJ Group of Companies is a company house that works in many different areas, such as domestic and international air cargo, real estate and infrastructure development, healthcare, hospitality, and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Harish Jagtani Arrested
In Jaipur, India, the Income Tax Department has done a lot to stop black money. The Income Tax Department did something about it and raided 5 well-known builders’ groups in Jaipur. The team caught Harish Jagtani, the Chief Advisor of the Congo Government of Africa, at a hotel in Delhi earlier on Sunday. Jagtani was part of a group from Congo that went to India. The department’s preliminary study into this case has shown that Harish Jagtani put a lot of illegal money into a project involving the Builders Group of Jaipur. The Income Tax Department then raided these well-known builders’ groups.
Harish Jagtani’s car was full of money worth crores
At the same time, the Rajasthan Police had a big success during the checking that happened before this. The police were doing a lot of checking on the road. While they were doing this, they found so much cash in a car that the officers there lost their minds. When the car going from Rajasthan to Ahmedabad was stopped on Abu Road, cash worth crores was found in it. When the cops searched the car on Abu Road near Sirohi, they found 3 crore 95 thousand in cash.
Police think Harish Jagtani is pulling a big Hawala scam
As soon as such a large amount of cash came in, Jignesh Dave and Kaushik Dave, both from Patan, were nabbed. The police think that a big Hawala scam could come to light in this case, so the Income Tax Department has joined the investigation along with the police. Last week, the same amount of cash was found during checks at the Delhi airport. At the cargo area, people from the airport found crores of rupees in cash.
In another case, at least $138 million of state money from Congo was stolen between 2013 and 2018. The money in Congo was sent through a branch of BGFI, which is one of the biggest banks in Africa, to companies and bank accounts owned by family and close friends of former president Joseph Kabila. Several suspicious payments were also made to Jagtani, but he says the money he got was for good reasons.
Harish Jagtani is getting into more trouble
Over more than six months, a group of media outlets and non-governmental organizations led by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) looked into and studied the information. In November 2021, the story came out. The Wire is one of the media groups that are working together.
The Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAF), an anti-corruption group based in Paris, and the French newspaper Mediapart got over 3.5 million documents that show nearly 10 years of transactions at BGFI Bank Groupe SA. This leak, called the Congo Hold-up, is the biggest leak of financial records from Africa ever.
Jagtani runs several businesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, such as real estate companies, air freight companies, and hospitals. Radio France International (RFI), a media partner, did some research and found that Jagtani got money from Congo’s central election body, Commission Électorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI), that was supposed to be used to organize the 2011 polls in the central African country.
Jagtani moved to Congo in 1995. She was born in Jaipur. At the time, he didn’t have much money and worked as an employee at an Indian trader’s import business. His mother was a teacher back home.
But in the 25 years he has lived in the DRC, he has grown a lot and is now one of the most powerful businesspeople in the country. Jagtani owns one of the biggest air freight companies in Congo, the real estate company with the most high-profile projects, and a super-specialty hospital in Kinshasa. He is also known to be close to Kabila.
Practices of Fraud in Africa
A Paris-based anti-corruption group called Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAF) and the French newspaper Mediapart got their hands on more than 3.5 million documents that show what went on at BGFI Bank Groupe SA, one of Africa’s biggest banks, for nearly 10 years.
Over more than six months, a group of media outlets and non-government organizations led by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) looked into and examined the information. The Wire is one of the media groups that are working together.
The leak, called the Congo Hold-up, is the biggest leak of financial information ever from Africa. It shows that at least $138 million of public money was stolen between 2013 and 2018. It talks about how public funds in Congo were moved through BGFI’s Congo division to companies and bank accounts owned by Kabila’s family and close friends. Several suspicious payments were also made to Jagtani, but he says the money he got was for good reasons.
Jagtani runs several businesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, such as real estate companies, air freight companies, and hospitals. Radio France International (RFI), a media partner, did some research and found that Jagtani got money from Congo’s central election body, Commission Électorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI), that was supposed to be used to organize the 2011 polls in the central African country.
Jagtani moved to Congo in 1995. She was born in Jaipur. At the time, he didn’t have much money and worked as an employee at an Indian trader’s import business. His mother was a teacher back home.
But in the 25 years he has lived in the DRC, he has grown a lot and is now one of the most powerful businesspeople in the country. Jagtani owns one of the biggest air freight companies in Congo, the real estate company with the most high-profile projects, and a super-specialty hospital in Kinshasa. He is also known to be close to Kabila.
Kabila was president of the DRC from 2001 until 2019 when he stepped down and gave his job to Felix Tshisekedi. This year, the two heads could no longer work together in politics.
“It is well known in Congo that Harish Jagtani is very close to Kabila,” a former employee of one of Jagtani’s companies in Congo told The Wire on the condition of anonymity. “Because Jagtani is close to Kabila, his businesses have gotten a lot of benefits, and he gets away with all kinds of illegal things.”
Sunita Neha Jagtani: Husband’s wife and crime partner?
Harish and his wife, Sunita ‘Neha’ Jagtani, seem to have something in common with Kabila and his wife, Olive Lembe di Sita. In 2015, Harish’s birthday party was held at the Jagtani’s luxurious house in Jaipur, where Sita was seen.
In one of the pictures, Sita and Neha are posed with a big picture frame full of pictures of them together. In none of the shots, Kabila can be seen.
A beautiful 16-story building in the center of Kinshasa called “Kiyo Ya Sita,” which was built by Jagtani may be a sign of their friendship. Last year, sources told RFI that the tower is named after Sita.
Kabila and Jagtani have both said that they have nothing to do with each other.
According to a study done by “Congo Hold-up,” the funds that Jagtani is now accused of stealing with the help of Kabila were sent through BGFI RDC, which is BGFI’s subsidiary in Congo.
“Congo Hold-up is the biggest leak of sensitive data in African history,” said Henri Thulliez, head of the PPLAAF. “It shows in great detail the tricks the bank and its customers used to hide widespread corruption, as well as the flaws in the international banking system that made it possible for these kinds of deals to happen. The bank records, emails, and business records are a great guide to how a kleptocracy works.
The study under “Congo Hold Up” talks about how BGFI RDC has helped Kabila and his friends get rich.
The BGFI is one of the biggest banks in central Africa, and several of Kabila’s close friends and family have worked at the top of the BGFI RDC.
People have also said that the bank stole public money in the past. Jules Alingete Key, Congo’s top anti-corruption official, called it a “mafia bank” in an interview with the group.
The study has shown how Kabila, who ran an autocratic government in Congo for 18 years starting in 2001 when he was only 29 years old, and people close to him got rich by taking public money and spending it on themselves with the help of BGFI RDC.
Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world, even though it has a lot of natural resources. More than 70% of its people live on less than $2 a day. Research has shown that poverty may have gotten worse under Kabila’s rule, even though he and his family got richer.
The study under “Congo Hold Up” talks about how BGFI RDC has helped Kabila and his friends get rich.
The Congo branch of BGFI was set up in Kinshasa in 2010. In 2012, Selemani Francis Mtwale, who was Kabila’s foster brother, was named head of BGFI RDC. Gloria Mteyu, the sister of the past president, owned 40% of the bank.
The investigation found that much of the money that was stolen was sent from BGFI to “shell” businesses. It also included millions of dollars that were put in cash for Kabila and his close friends to use.
Three of Jagtani’s companies are at the center of the alleged financial wrongdoing: his real estate company, Modern Construction, his air freight company, Services Air, and Industrie financière et immobilière (IFI), a financial and real estate company that Jagtani started with Pascal Kinduelo, who is close to the Kabila family and was also chairman of the board of directors at BGFI at the time.
Early in 2011, long before the general elections in November, Jagtani’s companies opened bank accounts at the BGFI, which was then run by Kabila’s family. Kinduelo, Jagtani’s new business partner who was also close to Kabila, was in charge of the board of directors.
Based on what RFI found, the Congolese election body CENI sent almost $4.5 million to Services Air. Of that amount, $4.3 million was sent through BGFI. In the past, too, the company has been accused of getting ‘astronomical’ amounts of money from CENI.
Even though the “Congo Hold Up” papers show that only about $1.5 million was spent on fuel, $800,000 was taken out in cash, and the rest was sent to Modern Construction, Jagtani has told the consortium that this is not true.
The records also show that these transfers to Modern Construction often happened on the same day that CENI sent money to Services Air.
Jagtani admits that no contract was signed with CENI. Instead, purchase orders were signed every time the commission needed Service Air to transport election-related goods.
Jagtani also says that Services Air gave almost a million dollars to Modern Construction and IFI in the form of intercompany loans for “various services” that these companies did for CENI, but he doesn’t say what those “services” were. He said that IFI got $100,000 and Modern Construction got $830,000.
He says that the rest, about $3.5 million, was used to “buy fuel, pay for aircraft leases, and pay different taxes.”
But a CENI study from 2015 says that there are no contracts or invoices to show how the money was transferred.
In addition to the CENI transfer, ‘Congo Hold Up’ has found that between January 2011 and April 2015, Modern Construction received about $27.5 million in questionable transfers.
Almost $2 million of this is paid in cash, and over $2 million is because of “clerical errors,” which means that the money was moved “by mistake.” There are also payments from accounts at the Swiss bank Claridien Leu, which has also been accused in the past of doing shady business.
One of the payments came from “Kamal Nandlal Rawtani and Rhea” and was for $840,000. Kamal Rawtani is Jagtani’s brother-in-law, and Jagtani says that the money was sent for the sale of a piece of land, but he doesn’t say anything else.
Loans as a way to get money
Some of the $27.5 million that was given to Modern Construction came from loans and credit lines that the BGFI gave out.
In February 2011, BGFI RDC gave Modern Construction a credit line of $2.5 million. After seven months, Jagtani’s company got a $25 million credit line, which made that credit line 10 times bigger. Between these two loans, Jagtani and Kinduelo started IFI with the help of other partners.
The credit line was backed by three guarantees: a building valued at $19.88 million, an escrow account equal to one month’s expected cash flow, and an irrevocable domiciliation of up to $4 million in monthly earnings.
The deposit of $10 million into a blocked account was probably the most shocking guarantee. For this, $5 million was sent from Services Air and the rest came from a company in Mauritius called Overseas Juline Ltd.
A man named Nazim Charania is in charge of the company. He is friends with Congo and Jagtani. Like Jagtani, Charania moved to Congo in the second half of the 1990s and worked in the casual trade sector. There, he met Jagtani, Salim Kamani, and Sajid Dhrolia. Also from India, Dhrolia, Kamania, and Charania started a company called SNS.
One of the partners, Dhrolia, owns 25% of the shares in Modern Constructions with Jagtani, with whom she is also a partner. Jagtani said that his relationship with Dhrolia and the money sent as part of the bank guarantee had nothing to do with each other. “I knew Sajid Dhrolia, who was a minority partner, through the business. “That deal was over in 2015,” he said.
In June 2012, the line of credit comes to an abrupt stop. In the end, Modern Construction only got $11 million out of the $25 million that was supposed to be given to it.
An internal report from the bank in December 2012 explains why the credit line had to end. BGFI’s compliance department was one of the offices that didn’t like the idea of keeping the line of credit open. They said that there wasn’t enough “reliability on the source of funds” when it came to Jagtani’s bank accounts.
They make it clear that Modern Construction’s promises for the line of credit were much more than the amount of credit. It also said that it was unknown where a lot of the money Jagtani put into the business came from.
In his answer to “Congo Hold Up,” Jagtani says that the $10 million security that his company gave for the line of credit was paid for by other banks’ lines of credit. He says this is a “classic financial operation” and that any talk of moving money is “defamatory.”
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