Development in the investigation of the suspicion of acts of corruption and fraud in the Congo by companies related to the Israeli diamond Dan Gertler. The Federal Court in Geneva, Switzerland, recently ordered the local prosecutor’s office to hand over to the UK’s Financial Fraud Investigation Office (SFO) information related to the bank accounts of companies and an individual associated with Gertler. The information was requested by the British, according to the ruling, following “an investigation concerning acts of corruption and fraud in connection with the purchase of mining assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
The “Gotham City” website – a weekly online magazine published in Switzerland and France on economic crime issues – publishes this evening (Wednesday) that the British investigation refers to the purchase of mining assets by Gertler in 2010, through the Kazakh company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC). , registered in London, England. The Kazakh company is suspected of paying bribes of millions of dollars through Gertler – suspicions which the Israeli businessman denies.
The SFO has been investigating these suspicions since 2012. In an affidavit previously filed by Gertler as part of a Congolese mining property arbitration with Gartner Brothers, he detailed how his Congolese business manager, Peter de Bot, was detained in March 2017 at Brussels airport by SFO and police investigators. Belgian as part of the investigation. De Bot, according to Gertler’s affidavit, was questioned about various payments in the Congo.
The ruling in Switzerland from September 15, reviewed by “Calcalist”, rejected the objection of the Israeli attorney Els Dovronsky, who is close to Gertler, and five other companies, to the transfer of the information requested by the British authorities. This is information related to Dovronsky’s account in Tel Aviv, to two companies in the Virgin Islands the British (Haline Limited, Legacy Industries Limited), and three companies in Congo (Opera SA, Rep Dem Congo, Ventora Minig SASU and SASU Gemini).
We note that the US imposed sanctions on the three companies in Congo that the Swiss will now provide information about in 2018, after the Department of Foreign Assets Control at the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) determined that they had ties to Gertler, and decided to freeze their assets in the US in accordance with the section related to for serious offenses of corruption and violation of human rights.
The connection between Dobronsky and Gretel in the mining business in the Congo was previously revealed in the testimony of the strategic consultant, Zev Feiner, which was published in “Calcalist”. Feiner’s testimony revealed that in 2013 Attorney Dobronsky tried to hire the services of the Israeli cyber intelligence company Raison to help Gertler in the mining dispute with the Gartner brothers – an attempt that was unsuccessful. It was not possible to get a response from Gertler and Dobronsky due to the holiday.