Police on Saturday said that Oly Ilunga oversaw Democratic Republic of Congo’s handling of the outbreak, the second deadliest in history, for nearly a year. He was fired by the President in July days later he resigned from the government.
Earlier in September,his lawyers said he had been questioned by police about his role managing the Ebola response but they denied any wrongdoing by Ilunga.
In a statement, the national police said Ilunga was detained because they believed he planned to evade legal proceedings by leaving the country.
“Unfortunately, police received information about his disappearance with a view to reaching Congo-Brazzaville,” the police’s press service said, referring to neighboring Congo Republic.
It said Ilunga was in police custody and would come before a prosecutor on Sept. 16.
Foreign donors have provided more than $150 million in funding to the Ebola response over the past year, but the United Nations has said hundreds of millions of dollars more are needed.
The outbreak has so far killed over 2,000 people and infected 1,000 more. Only the 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa, which killed more than 11,300, was deadlier.
