Gécamines reportedly received $25 million from Dan Gertler in exchange for mining permits (NGOs)
Findings from a report released today by Global Witness and PPLAAF reveal that Gécamines received $25 million from Dan Gertler in exchange for mining permits before the 2018 elections, while the Israeli tycoon has been under U.S. sanctions since December 2017.
“Among the transactions revealed today, at least $21 million was sent to unknown accounts held outside the DRC and $25 million was paid to Gécamines, the DRC’s controversial state-owned mining company. Gertler apparently used agents to make these payments to Gécamines in exchange for new mining permits just before the 2018 elections. This is reminiscent of Gertler’s agreements with the state-owned mining company before the 2011 elections, which contributed to the imposition of “corruption” sanctions against him,” the two NGOs wrote in their report.These organizations believe that the election of the new President Felix Tshisekedi in December 2018 did not put an end to “the long and lucrative alliance between Kabila and Gertler”. For Global Witness and PPLAAF, “Kabila seems to have retained some of his political power and influence over many of the country’s institutions, which could have helped his old friend Gertler to continue to operate freely in the DRC, despite the sanctions.”
“Under new President Felix Tshisekedi, the Congolese government has pledged to prioritize the fight against corruption. If the administration’s commitment to this is serious, it must start by freezing Dan Gertler’s assets and carrying out an audit of all its transactions with state-owned enterprises,” Bourdon-Fattal said.The report’s findings suggest that Gertler, with the help of agents, relocated his companies, which were based in opaque tax havens, to the DRC.
“Gertler and his network of agents then opened bank accounts in the Congolese branches of Afriland First Bank, based in Cameroon. New names have gradually appeared on registers of companies and bank accounts connected to Gertler in subtle and diverse ways. One of these names was that of an individual involved in a VAT fraud on the carbon tax that cost the European Union 5 billion euros.In total, between June 2018 and May 2019, at least $100 million passed through bank accounts associated with this network. Much of the amounts in question were denominated in U.S. dollars, despite U.S. sanctions, and nearly 70% of the funds were deposited in cash into accounts apparently linked to Gertler or his associates,” the report said. It should be remembered that the sanctions against Gertler, a personal friend and close friend of Joseph Kabila, president of the DRC between 2001 and January 2019, prohibit him from doing business with American citizens, banks or companies. In the face of this investigation, Gertler, along with other individuals and companies on which Global Witness and PPLAAF have found evidence of concerted efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions, have all strenuously denied any attempt to do so. “They all claim to have carried out their own legitimate business activities and not acting in Gertler’s name,” the report said. There was no attempt or conspiracy to evade sanctions, they say.
