Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has designated three Democratic Republic of the Congo officials, barring them entry to the United States on accusations of accepting bribes in exchange for the trafficking of chimpanzees, gorillas and other wildlife, predominantly to China.
The three officials were connected to either the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, a semi-government body that manages the DRC's protected areas under the Ministry of Environment, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or both.
"As public officials responsible for wildlife protection, they abused their public positions by trafficking chimpanzees, gorillas, okapi and other protected wildlife from the DRC, primarily to the People's Republic of China, using falsified permits, in return for bribes," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement Wednesday.
"Their corrupt, transnational criminal actions not only undermined rule of law and government transparency in the DRC but also long-standing wildlife conservation efforts."
The officials were identified as Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, the former director general of the ICCN; Leonard Muamba Kanda, the ICCN's director and former head of the DRC Management Authority for CITES; and Augustin Ngumbi Amuri, a ICCN legal advisor and the director-coordinator of the DRC CITES management authority.
The State Department was also designating Kanda's wife, Rose Nsele Ngokali, and Wilungula's wife, Esther Mwanga Wilungula, making them ineligible for entry into the United States.
Miller described the move as a demonstration of the United States standing with those in the DRC "who work to disrupt wildlife trafficking and promote accountability for corrupt officials and transnational criminals.
"These designations also reaffirm the United States' commitment to combat corruption, which harms the public interest, hampers countries' economic prosperity and curtails the ability of governments to respond effectively to the needs of their people," he said.
