Congolese adoption fraud: only pivotal figure to criminal court, officials acquitted

On Tuesday, the council chamber in Dinant made a decision in the case of the large-scale adoption fraud involving various Congolese “orphans”. Of the eight suspects, only pivotal figure Julienne Mpemba (41) will answer before the criminal court later this year. All officials of the French Community concerned were thrown away. The parents involved are extremely disappointed with that decision.

In recent years it came to light that several Congolese children were offered for adoption to our country, while their biological parents in Congo had not left them at all. They were looted and put up for adoption for big money. According to the federal prosecutor's office, several members of the French Community were aware of the fraud. Passports, police reports, photos and ages were tampered with.

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Today the Dinant council chamber decided that the French officials should not answer to the criminal court. They could not be blamed under criminal law, it sounded. The parents of the concerned families who adopt a child are very disappointed. This confirms lawyer George-Henri Beauthier, who has been assisting the families for years. He will soon check with the attorney of the federal public prosecutor whether they can appeal against the decision.

Pivotal figure

Must answer: Julienne Mpemba, a Belgian-Congolese woman from Namur. She was the prime suspect in the case of suspicious adoptions and for many years headed the concerned orphanage in Kinshasa. The woman was in contact with the highest political circles in Congo and with officials in the French Community in our country. She is suspected of human trafficking. She has stated that she has had thirty to forty children adopted in Belgium and the United States.

Congolese adoption fraud: only pivotal figure to criminal court, officials acquitted

Julienne Mpemba, guest on the regional Walloon channel Canal C in November 2013 PHOTO: CANAL C

The officials had also been charged. Some of them were on a red or green election list, one of them fulfills a high advisory role in the cabinet of Brussels Prime Minister Rudi Vervoort (PS). Didier Dehou, director of the Walloon adoption center (ACC) was also part of it. They would have turned a blind eye to the fraudulent registration of birth dates of the children and shoddy photos of them.

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