Can over 1 million NOK have been spent on bribes in Kisangani?

In a journalist convention (SKUP), they talked about the Congo case. Ragnhild Imerslund from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry criticized the use of bribery in Congo during the trials. Several journalists, Imerslund and Lawyer Furuholmen were interviewed. It was said that the widow and the witnesses was given bribes to get interviews and that there were fees being paid for everything else. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone regarding Congo. I understand completely that they spent money there; it’s just the way it is in Africa. I’m sure it’s been 10 dollars here, 20 there and 100 there. What we need to realize is the consequence of this. This case has been a robbery from day 1, and the bribes have been money in the pocket to the robbers. There can’t be any doubt of that.

How much are we talking about?

The journalists didn’t want to talk too much about that. The journalist from Dagbladet said that he had a travel bill for about 70 000 - 80 000 NOK. VG has spent more than 3 millioner on the case.

Let’s do the math: I know that a round trip is about 15 000 NOK (that’s what we paid for Mathildes trip) Say they were there for 3 weeks. Food and hotel is about 150 dollars a day = 21 days x 150 = 3150 USD x 5, 90 = 18 585 NOK. So:

The total travel bill is: 75 000 NOK

- Airfare 15 000

- Food and hotel 20 000

- Other expenses 10 000 (I think this is more than reasonable)

This amounts to 45 000 NOK

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The amount used on bribery: (75 000 – 45 000) = 35 000 NOK. This is for 1 team, a journalist and a photographer on a “normal” trip. It’s probably been both shorter and longer trips.

How many teams have been there? The large papers has probably had at least 5 teams each, some more, 30 teams can’t be too much.

30 teams x 35 000 NOK = 1 050 000 NOK

It might therefore have been left 1 million NOK in briberies in Kisangani!

It’s possible this is too high an amount, but I’m sure it’s between a half and 1 million NOK.

What does this mean?

It means a good profit from the robbery.
They see that Norwegians have a lot of money, they can demand more and more. This was also explicitly made clear during the trials.
They think they can extort money indefinitely.
This is a disaster for the boys. They don’t have any money but have become the golden goose here. This can cost them their lives.

How much money is this in Congo?

Most people probably live on less than 1 USD (about 6 NOK) a day. Congo has the second lowest gross national product per capita.

The officers that have profited the most have probably a higher salary, maybe 400-500 dollars a month. Since they apparently rarely or never receive their salary, I guess they live on what they can arrange. Now, some of them have made hundreds of thousands of NOK, money they haven’t seen the likes of before.

This case is not about the murder of a driver, or espionage for Norway. It’s about a robbery where poor people see the opportunity to rob a rich country by using hostages. Not a lot of people have experienced the kind of injustice like these two boys.

Knut Moland, March 21^st 2010

Free French and Moland!

Can over 1 million NOK have been spent on bribes in Kisangani?

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