Created to embody a historic response to conflict-related sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the National Reparations Fund (FONAREV) has, within a few years, become one of the country’s biggest financial scandals, recent financial reports, investigations, and leaked documents have revealed.
They alleged that more than 212 million dollars in mining royalties were collected between January 2024 and June 2025, but less than 2.5 percent actually reached survivors.
The financial reports, investigations, and leaked documents also revealed an organised system of embezzlement, nepotism, and institutional opacity. Launched in 2022 with the mandate to “repair” victims of war crimes and sexual violence, the National Reparations Fund (FONAREV) had been presented as a historic gesture of the Tshisekedi regime.
In 2023, a decree allocated 11 percent of mining royalties to this fund, guaranteeing it a stable and abundant resource.
According to the financial report, “Very quickly, hope gave way to controversy. The figures show that the real beneficiaries are not the victims, but a narrow circle of managers and political allies. At the heart of the scandal, revelations from the General Inspectorate of Finance, leaks of internal documents, and press investigations highlight a systematic mechanism of resource capture.
“The abyssal gap between the stated mission and the reality of expenditure illustrates a profound drift, where the institution of justice has become an instrument of political and family rent. Colossal resources, derisory impact. Between January 2024 and June 2025, FONAREV pocketed more than 212 million dollars. Of this amount, only 5 million financed actions directly related to reparations: three boreholes, a renovated school in North Kivu, a memorial in Kisangani, and occasional medical support for 115 victims.”
The documents added that: “This concrete record, derisory in view of the sums available, represents less than 2.5 percent of the funds mobilised.”
The financial report for the second quarter of 2025 confirms this disproportion, adding that: “Of nearly 61 million dollars recovered, more than half was absorbed by operating costs, salaries and various administrative expenses, while less than a fifth was directed towards reparation programmes.
“Some departments literally blew up their budgets: the financial department, for example, consumed 130 percent of its allocated credits, mainly through exorbitant bonuses and mission expenses.
“The abusive nature of the disbursements also appears in the recovery bonuses. In February 2025, the board of directors decided to apply retroactively an 8% bonus on all sums collected since the fund’s inception. This operation released an envelope of 14 million dollars, distributed in cash to the members of the recovery committee, already remunerated elsewhere. A diversion of exceptional magnitude, carried out without control or justification.
“Organised embezzlement and parallel financing internal documents and press reports reveal allocations of funds totally unrelated to FONAREV’s mandate. Fifteen million dollars were transferred to the Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi Foundation (which became the LONA Foundation) for a humanitarian operation intended for Burundian refugees in South Kivu.”
The report stated further that according to regional market prices, the real value of the distributed foodstuffs-612 tons of supplies, and some necessities not exceed 500,000 dollars. The rest, nearly 14.5 million, evaporated.
“This logic extends to international partnerships. In June 2025, the fund signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations system, valued at 12 million dollars, officially intended for mobile clinics and assistance to displaced persons. In practice, these co-financings serve as institutional cover for a structure that massively diverts its resources.”
It added that: “Several UN experts are beginning to question the legitimacy of maintaining such a partnership. Political propaganda also intrudes into resource management. In August 2025, FONAREV financed the so-called “Genocost” campaign, a commemoration aimed at gaining recognition of an “economic genocide” in the DRC.
In September 2025, the document disclosed that a complaint was filed in Brussels against the Tshisekedi family for alleged embezzlement and money laundering linked to FONAREV.
“This judicialization outside Congolese territory illustrates the magnitude of the scandal and the growing mistrust of Western partners. At the same time, the international community is accused of complacency: by providing a veneer of legitimacy through UN conventions, it contributes to masking an enterprise of institutionalised spoliation.”
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