Mining magnate and billionaire Dan Gertler has just dropped the last of his complaints against the Israeli Newspaper Haaretz, one of the three news outlets that whistleblowing NGO PPLAAF and environmental NGO Global Witness worked with, in their report '
Undermining Sanctions' which with the help of disclosures from whistleblowers Gradi Koko and Navy Malela exposed Dan Gertler's corruption within the DR Congo. Meanwhile, France's high court upholds the 2022 conviction for defamation against PPLAAF and the whistleblowers.
Dan Gertler, son of wealthy diamond family arrived in the DRC in 1997 and used the country's instability after The First Congo War and the start of the Second Congo War to provide money, arms and political connections to President Joseph Kabila, in return for a monopoly on the mining exports of the DRC, the richest country in the world in terms of natural resources. Since then Gertler has done all he can to remain the king of minerals in the DRC, buying and controlling the mining trade by using
bribes and destroying the natural landscape in hopes of minerals, even at the cost of US sanctions in 2017. In 2019, President Félix Tshisekedi won the country's leadership, meaning Gertler's influence over the country could wane, as the people saw Gertler and Kabila as part of the corruption stopping the country from improving.
In 2020, the
Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) created a joint investigation with
Global Witness, which suggested that despite US sanctions, he continued to operate freely in DRC’s mining sector. His close connections to those with power and influence in DRC could have helped allow him to continue doing business, as has his apparent use of an international money laundering network. Furthermore, In 2021,
whistleblowers Gradi Koko and Navy Malela revealed their identities, both senior employees of the Congolese branch of Afriland First Bank and who had provided the documents that supported the investigation alleging Gertler's use of money laundering.
Despite Koko and Mealela's bravery in speaking out they were sentenced to death and were forced into and remain in exile on eight different charges for the disclosures. PPLAAF and Global Witness faced criminal complaints, threats, and conspiracies, as mentioned, the Israeli outlet that shared the report, Haaretz faced a SLAPP suit by Gertler, which has now been dropped. France's High Court "Cour de Cassation"
convicted Eric Moutet, the lawyer for Koko and Malela’s former employer Afriland First Bank, in 2022 for defaming PPLAAF and the whistleblowers.
Gertler has since had the prospect of US sanctions eased by President Trump in 2021, but was later cancelled when President Biden came into power. Now in 2024, the US government is debating on easing them so that Gertler leaves his operations in the DRC so that the country's government can have more control and transparency on its resources. Unfortunately, the
DRC has continued to have external and internal interference and conflict, with not only humanitarian crises and genocide but with the increase in mining efforts for cobalt, the resource needed for smart devices and AI machines as mentioned in our Spotlight blog '
AI and the need for Whistleblowing in Tech'.
For more on whistleblowing efforts in Africa, follow PPLAAF on LinkedIn and Facebook.