Belgian police have carried out searches at several addresses in Brussels and surrounding suburbs as part of a money-laundering investigation linked to alleged diversion of mining revenues from the Democratic Republic of Congo, with lawyers behind the complaint saying relatives and associates of President Felix Tshisekedi were among those targeted.
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The investigation stems from a complaint filed in Belgium in 2025 by a group of civil society organisations from Congo’s southern Katanga province, known as DESC/RDC. The organisations are represented by Belgian lawyer Bernard Maingain and France-based Congolese lawyer Herve Diakese.
Diakese said the complaint concerns alleged diversion of mining resources and the laundering of proceeds said to have originated from revenues belonging to local communities and the Congolese state.
“The complaint in Belgium concerns the capture of resources by Belgian citizens and the laundering of funds derived from the misappropriation of mining revenues and resources belonging to local communities, to the detriment of the Congolese state,” he said.
He further alleged that the proceeds had enabled those involved to maintain lifestyles beyond what their legitimate income could support.
According to the lawyers, the complaint was filed in Belgium because several of the people named are Belgian citizens resident in the country.
A spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that police carried out searches at several addresses in Brussels and in its northern and southern suburbs as part of a money-laundering investigation arising from an NGO complaint filed in 2025.
The prosecutor’s office, however, did not confirm whether the people whose properties were searched were relatives of President Tshisekedi.
Diakese maintained that the complaint extended beyond members of the Congolese president’s immediate family to other individuals within a broader circle of people said to be close to him.
The Congolese presidency declined to comment on the development.
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