CNPAV asks for an independent investigation into Dan Gertler for corruption in the Kalukundi case | DRC
The anti-corruption campaign “Congo is not for sale” (CNPAV), welcomed, during a press conference held this Monday, November 09, the condemnation by the American justice of OZ Africa, a subsidiary of American speculative investment fund Och-Ziff, for corruption linked to a mining project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Campaign urges the Congolese justice system to investigate the allegations in order to ensure that everyone involved in the case is accountable for their actions and so that the Congolese victims are recognized and compensated.
The New York court ruling awarded $ 135 million in restitution to former shareholders of Africo Resources Ltd, who were found to be “victims of crime” by the court for losing their investments in the Kalukundi mine, which was to soon to be developed, in southern Congo, in Lualaba.
“We congratulate American justice because it has come to consolidate the position of the CNPAV which has always denounced the case of corruption in the DRC. While welcoming this judgment, we say that the Congolese voice has not been heard. The facts happened in the Congo, so this is where there was corruption. We believe that the communities victims of this corruption should also be recognized and be rewarded for this money of 135 million USD. We ask the Congolese justice to open investigations against those involved, ”said Emmanuel Umpula of the organization African Resource Watch (AFREWATCH).
In his speech, Jimmy Kande, coordinator of “United RDX”, Pan-African Network Against Corruption, urged the Congolese justice to prosecute all those named in the verdict of the American justice.
“We wanted to sound the alarm on the fact that there are also Congolese victims who are there but who are not taken into account in this judgment rendered in New York. Since there are people who are named in this judgment, the Congolese justice must in turn open an investigation so that corrupt practices stop in our country ”, said Jimmy Kande.
Indeed, the CNPAV notes that the Israeli businessman Dan Gertler is cited as being an actor in the corruption system in the legal documents filed in this case against Oz Africa. In a case filed in court in March 2020, Oz Africa lawyers said it “clear that most of the wrongdoing here has been directly done not by Oz Africa, but by others more culpable like Gertler and corrupt officials of the DRC ”. Gertler has always denied any responsibility in connection with reprehensible acts committed in the Congo. This assertion comes to reinforce the allegations contained in the reports of several member organizations of Congo is not for sale which already sounded the alarm on the bad practices of Dan Gertler in Congo.
The CNPAV is surprised to see foreign courts trying actors involved in corruption in Congo, while our own justice remains inactive in the face of these acts. For this civil society platform, the Congolese justice will have to act by commissioning an independent investigation into the cases related to these actors involved and their accomplices finally that this one, be also judged in the DRC.
Although Dan Gertler has been under US sanctions since December 2017, it would seem, according to NGO reports on this subject, that he continues to act with impunity in the Congo, possibly helped by his affiliations with certain members of the Congolese elite.
Therefore, the CNPAV recommends:
It is up to the Congolese justice to commission an independent investigation into the activities of Dan Gertler in the Congo.
It is up to Félix Tshisekedi to get personally involved and use his power as Head of State so that the various anti-corruption and money laundering institutions look into Dan Gertler’s affairs and that justice is finally done.
It is up to the American Congolese justice to consider, following this judgment, the Congolese victims of these acts of corruption and to act so that justice is also rendered to them.
