Congo's Gecamines Accounts Missing $750 Million, Group Says
- Royalties, bonuses, asset-sale proceeds unaccounted for
- Some of the money traced to debt repayment, asset acquisition
A Gecamines sign outside a Katanga Mine in Democratic Republic of Congo
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Almost $750 million paid by international mining companies to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state-owned miner over a three-year period are missing from the company’s accounts, the Carter Center said.
Royalties, signing bonuses and asset-sale proceeds due to Gecamines from more than 20 copper deals with partners between 2011 and 2014 can’t be reliably tracked to Gecamines’ accounts, the Atlanta-based advocacy group said in a report published Friday. That’s almost two-thirds of the $1.1 billion in partnership revenue Gecamines should have received, according to the analysis based on a review of contracts, corporate records, public statements and more than 200 interviews.