More than a decade ago the Republic of Congo, an oil-producing country of 6m people in central Africa, wanted to improve its decrepit health-care infrastructure. It paid an estimated $658m to a Brazilian company called Asperbras to build a dozen new hospitals. Yet of the 12 hospitals that were promised, only four have been built, according to Publiez Ce Que Vous Payez-Congo, a watchdog. Legal proceedings in America, France and Portugal allege that a good chunk may have ended up in the pockets of some of the president’s relatives. In total, investigators have identified at least $200m of suspect funds, not all of it related to the hospital programme. Recovering the money could, in theory, make a difference to Congo’s public infrastructure.
