(GLOBAL WITNESS, ALLAFRICA) Dany Gertler Intermediary For Glencore International In DRC
COMMENT - Dan 'Mr Diamond' Gertler was involved with the illegal ZAMTEL sale to the Libyan state's LAP Green (during the rule of Muammar Ghadaffi), through his RP Capital Partners. I did not remember he was also an intermediary/front for Glencore International, in which future 5th Baron Rothschild Nat Rothschild is a big investor and business partner (1, 2, 3, 4). Dan Gertler is a partner with Glencore in Nikanor PLC. Certainly the secrecy surrounding the ZAMTEL sale will make the secrecy among his many other deals feel familiar. Of course Glencore is famous for it's tax evasion at Mopani mine. The sale of Zamtel to the Libyans only makes sense after the destruction of Libya as an independent state under Muammar Ghadaffi, by NATO. Glencore also grabbed 75% of Sudan's oil, and I'm sure they are going for 100%. Read more about Glencore in the DRC in: GLENCORE'S CRIMES: Contracts, human rights and taxation: How a company exploits a country. To Glencore I say: you're a public company now, welcome to the Information Age.press release
Global Witness is today calling on Glencore to explain potentially corrupt deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is calling on the company to provide more details about its relationship with an Israeli businessman who is key to its substantial mining investments in the country. The concerns, detailed in a briefing for Glencore's shareholders, are being published on the day of the company's first AGM as a publicly listed company.
Since 2010 a number of offshore companies associated with Dan Gertler - a businessman and friend of Congolese President Joseph Kabila - have secretly bought stakes in several mines from the state, paying only a small fraction of their commercially estimated values. The mines were sold without public tenders and limited details were only released long after the assets were sold off.
After buying the assets, at least two of the offshore companies made huge profits by selling on shares in them soon afterwards. Others are positioned to profit by collecting the mining revenues.
Some of the proceeds of mining sales in 2011 were used by the Congolese government to cover costs related to the 2011 election, which returned incumbent president Joseph Kabila to power. The polls were condemned as flawed by international diplomats and election observers and were marred by killings committed by government security forces.
Mr Gertler and Glencore have challenged Global Witness's facts as laid out in the briefing, and their views are reflected in the note. A spokesman for Mr Gertler has questioned the commercial valuations for some of the mines concerned, while both Glencore and Mr Gertler's representatives categorically deny any involvement in corruption in Congo.
"Glencore's business in Congo is intimately tied up with a controversial friend of the president," said Daniel Balint Kurti, Campaign Leader for the Democratic Republic of Congo at Global Witness. "In a country endowed with vast mineral wealth and yet ranked by the UN as the least developed nation in the world, the company owes its shareholders and, more importantly, the people of Congo, an explanation of exactly who now owns their natural resources."
Mr Gertler is a key intermediary through whom Glencore has acquired stakes in Congolese mining assets. He is also a partner in all three mining ventures in Congo in which Glencore has acquired stakes that have been collectively valued at an estimated $4.6 billion. Two of those ventures, the Kansuki and Mutanda mines, together are expected to add at least 40% to the world's cobalt output and increase Congo's copper production by about 40% (compared to 2011 production figures) once they are fully developed.
Global Witness is asking Glencore and Mr Gertler to release the full list of shareholders of all the offshore companies involved - information which is currently secret. Global Witness believes there is a risk that the shareholders could include corrupt Congolese government officials or their proxies.
"Congo's natural resource wealth should benefit the country as a whole," said Balint-Kurti. "Yet hugely profitable deals are being struck in Congo by secretive offshore companies and multinationals; the Congolese state is getting peanuts and we are extremely concerned that the Congolese people are being deprived of billions of dollars."
As the world's largest commodity-trading firm, Glencore's behaviour helps set the standard for how commodities companies operate across the world. It boasts that it "will not assist any third party in violating the law in any country, nor pay or receive bribes, nor participate in any other criminal, fraudulent or corrupt practice".
"It is now incumbent upon Glencore to show that it is living up to its rhetoric and that it is ready to make public the details of its previously secret business deals," concluded Balint-Kurti.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DAN GERTLER, DRC, GLENCORE INTERNATIONAL AG, GLOBAL WITNESS (NGO), JOSEPH KABILA, MINING
posted by MrK @ 7:49 PM
7 Comments:
President Donald Trump's Executive Order freezes the properties of Dany Gertler in the US.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-blocking-property-persons-involved-serious-human-rights-abuse-corruption/
3. Dan Gertler; DOB December 23, 1973; nationality, Israel; alt. nationality, Democratic Republic of the Congo
(THE ZIMBABWE SITUATION, REUTERS) Zimbabwe debates nationalisation, Mugabe future
Reuters
Mon 23 Jul 2007, 11:29 GMT
By Cris Chinaka
Rautenbach also directly named his key "enemy," by stating that he believes
the current "dispute relates to Dan Gertler of RP Capital". RP Capital is in fact a manager of hedge funds, and while Gertler may have invested in
certain underlying RP Capital funds, he is certainly not "of RP Capital".
Rautenbach argues that Gertler "would have liked to have acquired the
Katanga [Mining] asset and that investors should ignore the background noise and focus on the fundamentals". Katanga Mining (KAT.T, C$22.32) is one of the three really big Katanga Province assets currently benefiting from heavy foreign investment.
Steinmetz bribery contracts not forged, expert says
Robin Pagnamenta, Deputy Business Editor
April 17 2018, 12:01am,
Eight years ago a company controlled by Beny Steinmetz, a diamond tycoon, was awarded part of the Simandou concession
in Guinea
EPA
Documents showing that bribes worth millions of dollars were allegedly paid by a company controlled by an Israeli billionaire to secure vast iron-ore deposits in west Africa appear to be genuine, according to a leading forgery expert.
Glencore indicted by US DOJ
https://www.lusakatimes.com/2018/07/03/glencore-majority-owners-of-mopani-mines-subpoenaed-by-us-justice-department-shares-tumble/
(LUSAKA TIMES) Glencore, Majority Owners of Mopani Mines, Subpoenaed by US Justice Department, Shares Tumble
July 3, 2018191,443 views
Glencore, the majority owners of Mopani Mines has been ordered to hand over documents and records to US regulators related to its operations in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela dating as far back as 2007, sending its shares tumbling 12 per cent.
The Swiss-based mining and trading group led by billionaire Ivan Glasenberg said on Tuesday that it had received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice to produce documents with respect to compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and US money laundering statutes.
The records related to the company’s activities in Nigeria, Venezuela and the DRC.
“Glencore is reviewing the subpoena and will provide further information in due course as appropriate,” the company said.
Glencore is the world’s biggest commodities trader, shifting millions of tonnes of metals, minerals and oil across the globe.
The company prides itself on operating in jurisdictions where many of its rivals fear to tread such as the DRC, Africa’s biggest copper producer and home to significant deposits of cobalt.
Traders noted that the DoJ subpoena comes just weeks after Glencore settled a dispute with Dan Gertler, its former business partner in the DRC.
Glencore said it would pay Mr Gertler in Euros so as to not fall foul of US sanctions, which were placed on the Israeli billionaire last year for his “opaque and corrupt mining deals” in the DRC.
At the time Glencore said it did not believe it was necessary to apply for a licence from the US government to pay Mr Gertler because no US person or the US financial system would be involved in the transactions.
Continued...
It also claimed it has discussed the royalty payments, which it stopped paying in December, with the appropriate authorities in US and Switzerland, where the company has its headquarters.
However, the move unnerved investors and analysts who said the deal would test Washington’s resolve over sanctioned individuals. On the same day Glencore announced its deal with Mr Gertler, the US Treasury department placed sanctions on 14 companies with ties to the Israeli businessman, including the vehicle that will receive the royalty payments from Glencore.
The DoJ subpoena is the latest in a string of problems to hit Glencore this year.
In addition to its legal fight with Mr Gertler, it also agreed to write off $5.6bn of debt in a joint venture with Gecamines, the DRC’s state mining, to end another legal dispute.
The company could also face a bribery probe by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office over its ties to Mr Gertler.
Global Witness, a campaign group, said: “Holding Glencore accountable is a huge step in global accountability more generally. It would set a precedent for companies all over the world who, in many cases, are able to act with impunity in regards to the world’s mineral wealth.”
In early trading on Tuesday, Glencore shares were down 12 per cent to 303p, wiping more than £5bn off its market capitalisation, which now stands at £45bn.
“There is not enough detail in the release to understand exactly what the investigation holds, however with the subpoena covering multiple countries, this would indicate that there is a relatively thorough investigation at hand,” said Tyler Broda, analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
“The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act appears at first investigation to provide subject to sanctions, fines and penalties up to $25m or twice the gain or loss caused by the violation and imprisonment for up to 5 years per occurrence,” added Mr Broda.
Lead pollution in Kabwe a public health emergency : Anglo American to be sued
August 23, 2019
https://www.lusakatimes.com/2019/08/23/lead-pollution-in-kabwe-a-public-health-emergency-anglo-american-to-be-sued/
“This is the worst environmental disaster I have seen in 30 years of practice,” said Richard Meeran, partner and head of Leigh Day’s International Department, in a statement.
“There is incontrovertible evidence of massive lead contamination of soil in local villages and of staggeringly high levels of lead in the blood of a substantial proportion of the local population in Kabwe, particularly among very young children,” he said.
“As a major multinational that holds itself out as a responsible corporate citizen, we believe Anglo American should compensate the lead poisoning victims and assist, practically and financially in the prevention of ongoing lead poisoning of these communities,” he said.
(HAARETZ) Congo Files: Cash Was Deposited Into Dan Gertler's Accounts, Then Millions Were Transferred to Top Israeli Figures
Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler owns mines in the Congo
■ In 2017 the U.S. imposed sanctions on him due to corrupt deals with the DRC's former president
■ Documents from the African state reveal irregular cash deposits made by Gertler's associates into his accounts
■ Some of the money was then sent to lawyers and advisers in Israel
■ Gertler: 'The documents are stolen and fabricated'
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