Popular Katanga governor faces fraud charge by DR Congo leader

Lubumbashi (DR Congo) (AFP) - The powerful and popular governor of Katanga province in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Moise Katumbi, said Thursday he was unsurprised by a fraud charge filed by President Joseph Kabila.

"I already had dealings with the judiciary before the presidential election of 2011," Katumbi told AFP by telephone from Lubumbashi, capital of the mineral-rich province the size of Spain.

A very wealthy businessman of 50 who turned to politics and works closely with foreign mining firms, the governor is a popular figure tipped to be possibly elected the next president of the equatorial African nation.

"I haven't been officially notified of the suit," but "the procedure and the method used wouldn't astonish me", Katumbi said.

The opposition fears that Kabila, who took power in wartime in 2001, is seeking to extend his elected mandate beyond the constitutional term in November 2016.

Katumbi's name was on a list filed Tuesday against a score of people, including four governors and Kabila's former cabinet chief. The legal document was drawn up on Kabila's behalf by Luzolo Bambi Lessa, special presidential advisor on fighting corruption.

"Already in 2009-2010, the Congolese government started legal proceedings against my family and myself in (former colonial power) Belgium and in Great Britain," said Katumbi.

Katumbi was accused of arms trafficking, financing rebels and money laundering in the period before the last presidential poll in 2011, won by Kabila amid allegations of widespread fraud from both domestic and foreign observers.

The bank accounts of the Katanga governor were seized for a time, but the charges against him were all eventually dropped.

"At that time, Mr Luzolo was minister of justice," Katumbi told AFP. "Once I have been officially informed (of the new complaint), I shall face up to my responsibilities."

The opposition has for months been urging the president to announce publicly that he will quit at the end of his second elected five-year term.

Though still a member of Kabila's political party, last December Katumbi discreetly warned the head of state against the temptation to cling to power.

He has given no public indication of his own ambitions.