Papa Wemba Faces People-smuggling Charges Over 'recruits' for His Band

Papa Wemba, the world music star known as the King of Congolese Rumba Rock, will be tried in France in October for allegedly smuggling at least 150 people into the country by claiming they were members of his band, his French lawyer said yesterday.

Yves Leberquier said the singer, who spent three months in prison last year before being released on bail, would appear in court on October 25 charged with aiding illegal immigration, forgery, fraudulently obtaining official documents and criminal association. He faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of €750,000 (£500,000).

A police spokesman said "several hundred" people from the Democratic Republic of Congo had entered France and Belgium illegally over the past few years on visas issued on the understanding that they were members of Wemba's group, Viva la Musica.

"Up to 100 would come over at a time claiming to be performers in his bands," the spokesman said. "Of course most of them never went home again. This was a well-organised illegal immigration operation."

The performer faces similar charges in Belgium, where some of his "musicians" arrested last February said they had paid $3,500 (£2,000) to get to Europe. Seven members of Wemba's entourage, including producers and managers, will appear alongside the 55-year-old star in Bobigny, north of Paris.

Papa Wemba, a Belgian citizen, was born Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in the former Zaire, where he burst on to the local music scene with his first band, Zaiko Langa Langa, in 1969.

Since 1977, playing with his current group, he has enjoyed huge success in Africa and Europe, where he settled in the 1980s to pursue his international career. Among the world music stars he has worked with is the former Genesis singer, Peter Gabriel.

Under police investigation since December 2000, Papa Wemba has admitted to French and Belgian police obtaining visas for "a few dozen" of his fellow-countrymen, but insisted he was acting for humanitarian reasons.

Released on bail from Fleury-Merogis jail outside Paris in June last year, the singer staged a series of concerts in Kinshasa this July to thank his people for their support and to announce that, after 18 years in Europe, he planned to move back home.

"This legal problem is not yet resolved, but I am confident in the justice system and I'm sure they will prove me innocent," he said at the time.