Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo's top court has intervened in an unprecedented corruption case involving a key ally of the president, less than a day before a lower court was due to issue a verdict, legal sources said on Friday.
A court in Kinshasa is scheduled on Saturday to issue its ruling in the fast-moving trial of Vital Kamerhe, 61, a veteran powerbroker in national politics who is also President Felix Tshisekedi's chief of staff.
Prosecutors are seeking 20-year terms against Kamerhe and 78-year-old Lebanese businessman Jammal Samih, accused of siphoning off more than $50 million of public funds in a case deemed a litmus test of Tshisekedi's anti-corruption drive.
Neither the lower court nor Kamerhe's lawyer was able to say whether the scheduled verdict would be affected by the intervention.
Kamerhe's defence lawyers had notably raised "exception of unconstitutionality" in the trial's last pre-verdict session, on June 11.
