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.