DRC: Gertler’s Legal Action Continues Against Mputu and Resource Matters

Despite his public announcements, Mr. Dan Gertler has not withdrawn from his legal action against the spokesperson and a member organization of the Congo coalition is not for sale.

In addition, his company Ventora is dragging out preparations for a possible dialogue that Mr. Gertler has requested and says he wants to hold with the coalition.

Pending concrete actions from Mr. Gertler and his team, the coalition continues to demand the restitution without compensation of all the assets ill-gotten by the businessman, including royalties from Kamoto Copper Company, Mutanda Mining and Metalkol, to their rightful owners: the Congolese people and Gécamines.

Gag trial still ongoing

On April 13, 2023, Mr. Dan Gertler said publicly that he intends to suspend the proceedings he has initiated against Jean Claude Mputu, the spokesperson for the anti-corruption coalition Le Congo n’est pas à Vendre, and his employer Resource Matters, member of the coalition.

Ten weeks later, no official step of withdrawal has been made in this direction. Mr. Gertler asserts that such a discontinuance requires an agreement from Mr. Mputu and Resource Matters to take effect, and further seeks a promise from them not to sue Mr. Gertler in turn.

However, according to Congolese law, such an agreement is in no way required and would in no way change the criminal aspect of the case in the event of a possible withdrawal by Mr. Gertler.

The prior agreement with Jean Claude Mputu and Resource Matters is all the more incomprehensible insofar as the decision to suspend these proceedings had been announced unilaterally by Mr. Dan Gertler himself.

Thus, we invite Mr. Gertler to notify the President of the Gombe Peace Court of his withdrawal, if he wants to implement his public announcement, as he also did in his trial in Paris against the Platform of Protection of Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF). We further urge him to withdraw his complaints against the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and to publish a full update on all SLAPP suits initiated in recent years and their status. In the meantime, we will continue to defend ourselves in future hearings.

Delays by Mr. Gertler’s team in organizing dialogue with the coalition

In February 2023, Mr. Gertler invited several civil society organizations – including the CNPAV coalition – to an exchange during which he would transparently share contracts and documents related to his transactions in Congo and answer questions raised.

With civil society responding positively, it was mutually agreed to hold a full-day dialogue on neutral ground in Kinshasa with a third-party facilitator. Mr. Gertler himself confirmed his participation on May 17, 2023. However, his team seems in no hurry to hold the dialogue.

Thus, while civil society organizations proposed a dialogue at the end of May, Mr. Gerter’s team proposed in return a preparatory procedure in several stages, with first a consensus on the facilitator, then on a ‘curated agenda ‘ (a ‘carefully chosen’ diary) and finally on the date. Our invitation for a physical meeting aimed at agreeing on these terms at the end of May did not receive a positive response.

Six weeks later, the first step – choosing the facilitator – has still not been completed. Civil society organizations shared on June 1 a list of three facilitators with deep knowledge of the Congolese context and a history of mediating between opposing parties.

All three agreed to play this role. For its part, Mr. Gertler’s team sent 7 letters containing theoretical reflections on the concept of facilitator neutrality, a rejection of our proposals and broken promises that a list of facilitators would be shared “quickly”. The deadline of June 8 that Mr. Gertler’s team had itself set for the lists of facilitators has passed for 3 weeks.

If Mr. Gertler still wishes to hold a dialogue, we estimate that a consensus on all the modalities – facilitators, agenda, date – must be reached by July 15. We reiterate the offer for a preparatory exchange in order to reach a consensus within the next two weeks. As for the dialogue itself, we estimate that it should take place before the end of August.

Our fight for a better deal for Congo Pending dialogue, the CNPAV coalition reiterates its main concerns about the agreement that the DRC signed with Mr. Gertler’s Ventora group in February 2022, in particular:

-The financial compensation promised by the country for the restitution of the oil blocks and mining permits without there being independent and public evidence available on their value, the identified reserves and the investments made

-The retention by the Ventora group of the right to collect royalties in the Mutanda Mining, KCC and Metalkol projects estimated at more than 250,000 EUR on average per day, although these rights were acquired in an opaque, fraudulent and illegal manner

-Reimbursement by the DRC of a loan whose ultimate beneficiaries have not been identified

-Immunity from prosecution promised by the DRC despite evidence of acts of corruption and bribes collected by American justice

Mr. Gertler has repeatedly mentioned having evidence to refute these allegations, without making them public. Dialogue should be an opportunity to convince us of our wrong.

Civil society organizations have already shared proposals for facilitators and agenda since June 1st. The ball is in Mr. Gertler’s court to prove that he wants to have a real transparent discussion about his transactions and business in the Democratic Republic of Congo.