One of the world's largest firms (it is the World's16th largest company) loaned a businessman previously accused of corruption $45m and asked him to negotiate mining rights in a poor central African nation, the Paradise Papers reveal. Glencore made the loan available to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, a notorious middle man with a close relationship with senior figures in the DR Congo government, in 2009. Gertler was asked to negotiate a new deal for a mining company in which Glencore had a significant stake, which campaigners say cost DR Congo hundreds of millions of dollars.
Gertler's notoriety in DR Congo goes back almost two decades. In 2001 the UN produced a report that accused him of exchanging weapons and military training in part of a deal to secure a monopoly on diamond mining rights.
In 2013, a report by the Africa Progress Panel, led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, suggested Dan Gertler's companies had won mining rights in DR Congo at well below their true value. Lawyers for the Israeli businessman deny the allegations made in the 2001 and 2013 reports.
Last year, hedge fund Och-Ziff agreed to pay $412m to settle a case brought by US authorities accusing it of paying bribes in several African countries. Prosecutors described, but did not name, an Israeli businessman who they claimed paid "together with others, more than $100m in bribes to obtain special access to, and preferential prices for, opportunities in Congo's mining sector".
Gertler's lawyers told the BBC that "[Gertler] contributes the vast majority of his wealth and time to the needy."
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