Businessman Billy Rautenbach, best known in South Africa and Botswana for his activities in assembling Hyundai cars, on Monday denied reports that he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and deported to Zimbabwe.
In a statement released on his behalf, Rautenbach confirmed that he was in the DRC last week but said he left for Zimbabwe on his own accord.
”He was not interviewed nor interrogated by immigration officials, his passport was not confiscated and he was not detained as certain media articles have claimed,” the statement said.
Last week a statement was sent out on behalf of the Katanga provincial government claiming Rautenbach was arrested and deported.
”The government of the DRC is making strenuous efforts to clean up the mining sector in the country, and has taken seriously South African charges of fraud, corruption and other crimes against Rautenbach,” Katanga governor Moise Katumbi said.
Rautenbach, major shareholder of Central African Mining & Exploration Company (Camec), which operates a copper- and cobalt-processing facility in the Katanga province, said he arrived in the DRC last Wednesday and left on Thursday.
”Rautenbach arrived in Lubumbashi on Wednesday to conduct various meetings and could not depart the same evening due to runway repairs. He spent the night with friends and left on Thursday morning at 7am when the runway reopened,” Rautenbach’s statement read.
There was apparently one official who wrote in his passport that his entry was denied, but Rautenbach maintained nothing official was said to him.
The DRC embassy in South Africa could not immediately say whether or not he was deported.
Rautenbach, a Zimbabwean passport holder, faces hundreds of charges of fraud, corruption and other crimes in South Africa. — Sapa