Africa is a great continent with vast wealth and resources. The only bad thing is that most of the African leaders are irresponsible and full of greed and corruption thereby worsening the continent. In the real sense, the African continent would have been the richest one in the world. Ironically, most states are poor due to the leaders’ wrong decisions. Lets look into the action of Gertler.
An example of such a country is the Democratic Republic of Congo. A ‘rich but poor country’ at the same time. The leaders of DR Congo are involved in lots of corruption the Catholic Church is at the forefront of defeating corruption in the country. There has been a case of resource corruption in the country which has been a matter of concern to various countries and organizations. These cases involve a rich tycoon called Dan Gertler.
Who is Dan Gertler?
Dan Gertler is an Israeli tycoon in the sector of natural resources and is also the head of the Dan Gertler International group of firms. Dan has copper and diamond mining interests in the African country of DRC. Besides, he has invested in gold, cobalt, agriculture, oil, and banking. Reports say that he may be a holder of citizenship of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The net worth of this tycoon is in billions of dollars.
Dan as a Controversial Figure
The IMF and the World Bank have been investigating Dan’s deals since 2012. As of 2017, President Donald Trump gave an Executive order of 13818 applying the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and listed Dan in the Annex. Authorities froze all his accounts and mineral assets that were under the United States jurisdiction.
Investigation and Reports Concerning the Magnate
Reports say that the tycoon seemed to clean money to dodge the United States restrictions and took more minerals from Congo. One of the reports says:
“Gertler appears to have used a money-laundering network stretching from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Europe and Israel to evade US sanctions against him. He has funneled millions of dollars abroad, and acquired new mining assets in DRC.”
The whistleblowers, who provided documents and who were also risking their safety, are the source of these findings. Investigations say Gertler had set bank accounts with other subdivisions of the Afriland First Bank, a banking firm. Later on, the banking company complained about the report. Eric Moutet, the lawyer of the Afriland First Bank, says the issue was due to theft of important documents and interfering with the bank secrets.
Views of the Transparency Campaigners
They condemn Gertler of taking advantage of his friendship with Kabila, DRC former head of state, to get mineral rights at a small price. Gertler would then sell those rights at a higher amount.
The United State Treasury Department
The US Treasury Department says that between 2010 to 2012 the DRC lost over $1 billion on government income.
Reports According To The Transactions Investigated
These reports say that suspects sent over $20 million to accounts that are not known outside the country. A further $25 million to Gecamines. Felix Tshisekedi promises to look into the graft case and ordered his government to freeze the tycoon’s assets. Tshisekedi says:
“I do not judge the American sanctions. I do not know why they imposed them. However, I have never heard our American allies tell us that Gertler is so bad that he must not do business in the DRC.”
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