In 2010 a powerful fixer in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) allegedly organized a $500\u00a0000 bribe for a local judge to make a $16-million lawsuit against Glencore subsidiary Katanga Copper Company (KCC) go away.<\/p>\n
We know about this because as part of its $1,1-billion corruption and price manipulation settlement with American authorities, Glencore admitted involvement in the alleged bribery scheme.<\/p>\n
Although the identity of the fixer is obscured in US court papers \u2013 he is dubbed \u201cDRC Agent\u201d \u2013 recent court filings by two South African doctors identify him as an \u201cin-country manager\u201d who allegedly operated on behalf of a person dubbed the \u201cDRC Partner\u201d and \u201cfacilitated the payment of bribes to further the DRC Partner\u2019s interests\u201d.<\/p>\n
Other filings suggest that \u201cDRC Partner\u201d matches the description of Dan Gertler and \u201cDRC Agent\u201d (the alleged fixer) matches the description of Pieter Deboutte, the long-serving head of Gertler\u2019s operations in Congo.<\/p>\n
AmaBhungane could not independently confirm this \u2013 and Glencore\u2019s admissions also do not directly implicate Gertler.<\/p>\n
Gertler\u2019s Israeli lawyer Boaz Ben Zur said his client \u201cdid not know and was not involved in the actions alleged\u201d and nor was anyone else on his behalf.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Gertler had no interest, whatsoever, in such actions and in any case did not send nor bring Mr. Pieter De Boot [sic], mentioned in your letter, into play.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasised that neither Gertler nor anyone on his behalf was a party to the proceedings filed by the South African doctors against Glencore and was not familiar with any of the South African protagonists mentioned.<\/p>\n
Attempts to reach Deboutte were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Both Gertler and Deboutte \u2013 and 19 companies associated with them \u2013 were sanctioned by the US in December 2017 for what the US Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) termed \u201chundreds of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals\u201d in DRC.<\/p>\n
The move effectively locked them out of trades involving any US dollar accounts and US individuals and companies were also prohibited from doing business with them.<\/p>\n
Gertler was until 2017 a co-owner of Glencore\u2019s DRC mines and was known for his close relationship with former DRC president Joseph Kabila.<\/p>\n
According to OFAC, Gertler used his friendship with Kabila \u201cto act as a middleman for mining asset sales in the DRC, requiring some multinational companies to go through Gertler to do business with the Congolese state\u201d.<\/p>\n
Glencore admits in court that it played such a dirty game, though Gertler and his associate have made no such admission and indeed Gertler denies any involvement.<\/p>\n
Now two South African doctors who have put up evidence in the US courts alleging they got caught in the Glencore-Gertler mangle want Glencore to pay.<\/p>\n
Quashed case \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The 2010 DRC court case which Glencore\u2019s fixer allegedly got quashed had been brought by a company called Crusader Health, owned by South Africa doctor-couple Ian and Laureth\u00e9 Hagen.<\/p>\n In 2010 the Hagens were seeking damages in a DRC court after Glencore abruptly cancelled their company\u2019s contract to build and operate hospitals at copper mines in the DRC.<\/p>\n The cancellation of the Crusader Health contract allegedly followed the Hagens raising alarms about a new medical manager imposed by Glencore.<\/p>\n They raised questions about whether the new manager, fellow South African Andr\u00e9 Hattingh, was properly medically qualified and claimed his influence stemmed from his being \u201cclosely connected to and sponsored by\u201d Glencore and its DRC agent.<\/p>\n The Hagens\u2019 contract pre-dated Glencore and Gertler taking control of the mines in question while Hattingh had already set up a hospital for Glencore at another mine.<\/p>\n The Hagens\u2019 objections to their new medical manager were allegedly met with a mystifyingly aggressive pushback culminating in their company getting the boot \u2013 and then the launch of their ill-fated claim for damages.<\/p>\n Gertler\u2019s lawyer told amaBhungane, \u201cMr. Gertler or anyone on his behalf was not party to the proceedings filed by the Hagen family against Glencore. As stated, neither Mr. Gertler nor anyone on his behalf was involved in the matter of the construction of the hospital mentioned in your letter and neither Mr. Gertler nor anyone on his behalf is familiar with the Hagen family or Mr. Hattingh.\u201d<\/p>\n When amaBhungane spoke to Hattingh he partly contradicted this, confirming he knew Gertler, but was not aware of what he called \u201cthe politics\u201d of the termination of the Hagens\u2019 contract and the subsequent fallout.<\/p>\n