 Leopold was embarrassed by complaints made by the British government about human rights abuses in the Congo Free State and dispatched a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the entirety of the Congo. This commission visited the Abir concession from 1 December 1904 to 5 January 1905 and, despite Abir's attempts to keep witnesses away, heard evidence of violence committed by Abir. This included the desolation of villages, murder, rape, hostage taking and excessive flogging. Abir was the only commercial body mentioned by name in the report for brutality which said that the concession was "the black spot on the history of Central African settlement". The commission instigated limited reforms, laying down new interpretations of existing legislation which included a limit of 40 working hours per week for collectors, the option of paying taxes in commodities other than rubber and the removal of sentries from the villages. Two months after this Leopold sent a Royal High Commissioner to Abir to check that the reforms were being carried out, he was told that Abir had no intention of instituting any reforms. The commissioner established two deputy public prosecutors in the Abir concession but one investigated only missionaries and the second brought few cases against Abir men.
