In the DRC, the General Inspectorate of Finance has denounced several suspect public contracts in recent weeks, including one concerning the establishment of new biometric national identity cards. In this case, the IGF implicates the company Afritech and suspects it of overbilling. On our antenna last week, his boss, the Malian Samba Bathily, assured that his company had created a consortium to manage this project with Idemia, the world leader in biometric recognition technologies. Idemia wanted to react to RFI and refutes these allegations.
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Idemia who wished “ clarify » his role in this project in Congo. If she does not deny working with the Afritech company, she minimizes her degree of involvement.
According to Olivier Charlanes, vice-president Middle East and Africa of Idemia, his company has a contract with Afritech, as a technological service provider as part of the project to set up a civil register and print identity cards in the DRC. Idemia therefore presents itself as a service provider and assures that it has never intervened in negotiations with the Congolese authorities.
Asked about the amount of the contract – 700 million dollars – the French leader refuses to comment, just as he refuses to give the cost of his service. He insists that he is in no way concerned by the real estate component of the project, $444 million, which fuels suspicions of overbilling.
Clarifications
Olivier Charlanes adds that Idemia was contacted by mail by the General Inspectorate of Finance, “ two or three weeks “. And that she in return provided clarifications regarding her relations with Afritech. The head of Idemia also indicates that his company has not ruled out ending its participation in the Congolese project.
This is not the first time that Idemia and Samba Bathily collaborate. The two partners are associated with Mali, where they together produce Malian passports.
Read alsoDRC: why the General Inspectorate of Finance opposes a contract on the issuance of identity cards