https://www.miningweekly.com
Copper|Mining|PROJECT|Projects|Resources
Copper|Mining|PROJECT|Projects|Resources
copper|mining|project|projects|resources

Congolese demand compensation in UK corruption investigation

29th January 2020

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

KINSHASA – A group of Democratic Republic of Congo citizens asked the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to recognise them as victims in its investigation of alleged corruption by Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC).

The 16 Congolese say they lost jobs, healthcare and community development projects when a copper and cobalt tailings project was shut down near Kolwezi, south-eastern Congo, in 2009, according to a statement by Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), a London-based anti-corruption group.

The company has been under investigation by the SFO since 2013 regarding its acquisition of mining assets, including several mines in Congo. ENRC, which acquired the project in 2010, has denied any wrongdoing. After the probe opened, the firm’s owners formed a new company called Eurasian Resources Group that now operates the Congolese mines.

RAID and the Congolese organisation, African Resources Watch, helped organise the group of potential victims. RAID said in the statement on Tuesday that they had identified more than 32 000 Congolese who could also qualify for compensation, if the company is found guilty.

The Congolese could qualify as victims under the UK’s Compensation Principles, which require law enforcement agencies to identify overseas victims in corruption cases and seek compensation for them.

A spokesperson for ENRC didn’t immediately comment when contacted by email, while the fraud office didn’t respond to an email requesting comment. The company sued the UK agency last year, claiming it colluded with the firm’s own lawyers to manufacture grounds for a probe – an allegation both parties deny.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Showroom

Rio-Carb
Rio-Carb

Our Easy Access Chute concept was developed to reduce the risks related to liner maintenance. Currently, replacing wear liners require that...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

PGMs and green hydrogen make headlines
PGMs and green hydrogen make headlines
19th April 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.176 0.224s - 93pq - 2rq
1:
1: United States
Subscribe Now
2: United States
2: