Pillar 7 · Our areas of work

Strategic litigation and the fight against impunity

The law as an instrument alongside research, advocacy and citizen mobilisation

UNIS takes the view that fighting corruption cannot stop at documenting, denouncing and advocating. Where the legal conditions allow, it must also help establish responsibility before the competent courts.

To that end, UNIS is developing a strategic litigation approach in cases of corruption, misappropriation of public funds, money laundering, illicit financial flows and, more broadly, financial crime that harms the interests of African populations.

In Africa as in the foreign jurisdictions that have competence, UNIS intends to join proceedings as a civil party or to support legal action wherever its standing and the applicable law permit, in order to help establish the truth, fight impunity and defend the interests of the African citizens affected by corruption.

What this approach seeks to achieve

To have responsibility established before the competent courts.
To represent and assert, within the limits set by law, the collective interests harmed by acts of corruption.
To advance compensation for harm and, where legally possible, the recovery of misappropriated assets.
To help ensure that the companies and individuals implicated in alleged corruption can be held to account, including where the conduct or the assets concerned extend beyond Africa's borders.
To use the law as an instrument alongside research, advocacy and citizen mobilisation.

“When corruption crosses borders, the search for justice must be able to cross them too.”

Our legal action

The proceedings UNIS takes part in

UNIS is involved in six legal proceedings, in five countries, in Europe and in Africa. It acts on its own or alongside other organisations, where the facts and the applicable law allow. This page lists the proceedings that can be made public; it is updated as they develop. Last checked: 27 September 2026.

6proceedings5countries

Committed for trial before the criminal court Civil party

Belgium · The Semlex affair (Congolese biometric passports)

Type of action: Joining the proceedings as a civil party.
Date: Civil parties joined from May 2020 onwards; committal decision on 31 August 2026.
Alongside: 51 Congolese citizens (who joined as civil parties in May 2020 with the support of the “Le Congo n'est pas à vendre” coalition), the FIDH, the Ligue des droits humains, Transparency International and Transparency International Belgium.
Where the case stands: On 31 August 2026 the Brussels Chambre du Conseil — the pre-trial chamber — committed 14 defendants for trial before the criminal court. That decision opens the examination of the case on its merits; it is not a conviction.

Read the full article Civil parties' statement (PDF, in French)

Preliminary investigation opened Complaint

France · Congo Hold-Up

Type of action: Complaint to the national financial prosecutor’s office (parquet national financier).
Date: June 2022 (opening of the preliminary investigation).
Alongside: Transparency International and Sherpa.
Where the case stands: In early June 2022 the national financial prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into alleged “aggravated laundering of misappropriated public funds”.

Source: VOA Afrique (in French) (opens in a new tab)

Criminal complaint filed Criminal complaint

Switzerland · Congo Hold-Up

Type of action: Criminal complaint to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.
Date: 8 July 2022.
Alongside: Public Eye and PPLAAF.
Subject: Transactions from 2012 and 2013 revealed by the “Congo Hold-Up” investigation, concerning possible money laundering and a possible failure of banking due diligence.
Where the case stands: Complaint filed; any further action is a matter for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.

Source: Public Eye press release (in French) (opens in a new tab)

Complaint filed Criminal complaint

South Africa · Congo Hold-Up

Type of action: Criminal complaint to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), South Africa’s prosecuting authority.
Date: April 2023.
Alongside: Open Secrets, PPLAAF and the Congolese organisations Congo Nouveau, Afrewatch and CDC/RN.
Subject: The purchase of properties in South Africa, between 2016 and 2018, by an associate of the former president of the DRC, using funds allegedly misappropriated from the Congolese state. The aim is to have these properties seized and returned to the Congolese people.
Where the case stands: In November 2024 the complainant organisations publicly called on the NPA to open an urgent investigation, as there had been no progress since the complaint was filed.

Source: Daily Maverick (opens in a new tab)

Complaint filed Complaint

France · The Bolloré case (Restitution pour l'Afrique collective)

Type of action: Complaint for handling the proceeds of crime and money laundering, filed with the national financial prosecutor’s office.
Date: 18 March 2025.
Alongside: UNIS is a member of the Restitution pour l'Afrique collective, which brings together eleven NGOs active in six African countries (Togo, Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC).
Subject: The port and logistics operations of a major industrial group in Africa. The aim is to enforce the mechanism for returning the proceeds of corruption provided for by the Merida Convention (the United Nations Convention against Corruption), written into French law in 2021.
Where the case stands: Complaint filed.

Source: France 24 (in French) (opens in a new tab)

Proceedings under way

The Netherlands

UNIS is part of legal action brought together with several other non-governmental organisations against an influential businessman. Details of these proceedings will be made public at a later date.

Presumption of innocence: the proceedings described on this page are ongoing. The individuals and companies targeted by these proceedings are presumed innocent until a final decision is reached. A complaint, a criminal report or the opening of an investigation does not prejudge the outcome. UNIS consistently distinguishes between established facts, allegations, investigations, prosecutions and convictions.

Going further

Litigation replaces nothing: it completes the picture

Research, documentation, citizen mobilisation, advocacy and strategic litigation: for UNIS, the fight against corruption has to be able to draw on several instruments at once.

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