Brazzaville - Exiled former ruler of Congo Republic Pascal Lissouba was convicted in absentia by a high court in the central African country on Friday of treason and embezzlement and sentenced to 30 years hard labour.
Lissouba, who has been living in the United Kingdom since he was ousted by current President Denis Sassou Nguessou after a brief but bloody civil war in 1997, was also fined 25 billion CFA francs (about R333-million).
The former leader of the oil-rich country was accused along with four other exiled government members of selling Congo's oil at bargain prices to US firm Occidental Petroleum Corp in 1993.
Lissouba's team signed a deal with the US firm guaranteeing oil supplies from a field operated by France's Elf Aquitaine in exchange for a $150-million advance, pricing the oil at $3 a barrel, well below the market price at the time.
The four ministers were convicted of embezzlement, fined 11,25 billion CFA francs each and sentenced to 20 years hard labour.
Relations between Elf and Lissouba were tense in 1993 because the government suspected the French firm of backing Sassou, then in opposition. News of the Occidental Petroleum deal angered both the French state-owned oil company and France.
At the time of the oil deal, Sassou accused Lissouba's team of selling off the country's resources to buy votes. Congo produces 370 000 barrels of oil a day.
Lissouba, who has denied the charges, saying the money was used to pay civil servants and prepare for elections, was recently barred from standing in March presidential elections under a strict new law.
Many of Congo's politial leaders met in the capital Brazzaville in April to try to draw a line under the two years of violence which followed the 1997 coup but Lissouba and his former prime minister Bernard Kolelas remained abroad. - Reuters