Gombe tricom undermining business climate with its Controversial regulation against kibali mines

It is a judicial scandal which must push the Council of State to hear all the judges and magistrates who have issued an unfair order, in the space of 24 hours, on the basis of the allegations of only one part of the rest represented by a lawyer not having received a legal mandate to take legal action.

The Kinshasa / Gombe Commercial Court issued on April 17, 2021 Ordinance No. 0281/2021 relating to the seizure as a precautionary measure of the accounts of the company Kibali Gold Mines against payment to SOKIMO of a “debt” valued at 1 billion USD 113.8 million. However, this judgment is unfair from every point of view. Thus, this judgment was rejected by Kibali Gold Mines for several reasons.

First, the procedure in this area was biased. Kibali Gold Mines was never notified of the complaint filed at the Kinshasa / Gombe Commercial Court against her. As a result, this case was dealt with on the basis of the allegations of only one party, namely Me Ethy Kumbalani, appointed by the temporary workers while the Director General of SOKIMO, Augustin Mpela Wa Kindombe, was prevented due to illness.

Indeed, the power of attorney granted to Me Ethy Kumbalani, who lodged a complaint, was drafted by Droma Ferdinand, Director-Head of the Production Department and Baelongandi Kamango Freddy, Coordinator of the General Directorate. They were able to produce the power of attorney during the 10-day period of their interim. However, the CEO of SOKIMO had taken great care to limit their interim mandate to “jointly signing all the current management documents” of the company. However, they allowed themselves to take legal action against Kibali Gold Mine, even trampling on the internal mechanism for settling disputes between co-shareholders.

Next, it should be noted that the aforementioned order was made with suspicious diligence. It was necessary for the judges and magistrates responsible for this case at the Kinshasa / Gombe Commercial Court to close it within 24 hours after receiving the Complainant’s Request. While it is a technical file between co-shareholders of Kibali Gold Mines. The celerity would require that the Commercial Court of Kinshasa / Gombe hear the other party, the managers of Kibali Gold Mine as well as the co-shareholders of Sokimo, before taking this order of protective seizure. This was not done by the Presiding Judge of the Kinshasa / Gombe Commercial Court thus violating the procedure in the matter.

Finally, it is appropriate to indicate that this debt is “fictitious” according to Kibali Gold Mines. “We have no information on any debt to Sokimo. All the accounts of our companies have been approved by our partners. The only debt that we recognize is that of SOKIMO in its share of the construction of the mine. In this regard, we have supported it and we will continue to do so because it is our partner ”, declared Mark Bristow, Chairman and CEO of Barrick, a company which co-manages Kibali Gold Mines with Anglo Gold and SOKIMO.

In a press release published on Monday, April 19, LICOCO and Touche Pas à Mon Cobalt called on the Council of State to take up this case and hear the judges and magistrates who handled this case by violating the elementary principles of the justice.

Compared to the dividends that SOKIMO draws in the Kibali Gold Mines joint venture, according to verifiable data, as of March 30, 2019 and “in respect of its stake in Kibali Gold Mines, Sokimo had received more than USD 214 million in cash and in transferred value as well. that a profit of more than 16.7 million USD in financing of loans ”.

Note that SOKIMO is a 10% shareholder in the Kibali gold mine which is operated by Barrick Gold Corporation, 45% owner, the remaining 45% being held by Anglo Gold Ashanti.