Corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is widespread at all levels of government, ranging from petty bribery involving local bureaucrats to grand-scale embezzlement of public funds by political elites.
[2] Mobutu Sese Seko ruled Zaire from 1965 to 1997, looting his country's wealth for personal use to such a degree that critics coined the term "kleptocracy".
Mobutu institutionalized corruption to prevent political rivals from challenging his control, leading to an economic collapse in 1996.
[10] Laurent Kabila led a regime that upheld corruption through clientelism by appointing his clients as cabinet members.
[18] In June 2020, a court found President Tshisekedi's own chief of staff Vital Kamerhe guilty of corruption.
[20] In November 2021, a judicial investigation targeting former president Joseph Kabila and his associates was opened in Kinshasa after revelations of alleged embezzlement of $138 million.
[21] The table above shows how the Democratic Republic of the Congo fared in seven successive years of Transparency International's ranking of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index.