On June 15, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 14 entities pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which targets serious human rights abuse and corruption, for being affiliated with designated Israeli businessman and billionaire Dan Gertler. Read full press release here.
The Sentry and the Enough Project welcomed the announcement, John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry and Founding Director of the Enough Project, declared:
Today’s action shows the type of consistent and escalating approach necessary for financial pressures to be effective in combating violent kleptocracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo and broader region. The Treasury Department’s addition of 14 more companies connected to Dan Gertler less than six months after the initial designation demonstrates a clear focus on impacting this network and those like it that profit from corruption and enable widescale human rights abuse. This is a strong conclusion to a week in which Under Secretary Mandelker delivered a message to the region that strong financial pressures will be used by the United States, and that the region’s governments and banks should be prepared to comply.
Read more on The Sentry website.
The fight against corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must continue, in its statement, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control underlines the huge amount of money diverted for illegitimate private gain: ‘Between 2010 and 2012 alone, the DRC reportedly lost over $1.36 billion in revenues from the underpricing of mining assets that were sold to offshore companies linked to Gertler‘…
