Bloomberg
Hezbollah and the richest in Israel were both welcome at a Bank of Congo
(Bloomberg) – 2018 was a good year for Afriland First Group SA, a Swiss-based company that oversees a network of banks across Africa. In his opening remarks to the annual report of the year, Paul Fokam, president of the group and another of Cameroon’s wealthiest men, highlighted the “challenge of being ethical and obedient in creating value”. He asked readers to keep in mind that “we are on a battlefield where only alertness, flexibility and perseverance can guarantee a sustainable victory”. Little mention was made in the 83 pages of the report by one of the group’s top artists, however, their unity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast Central African nation rich in natural resources, including diamonds, cobalt and copper. While deposits at Afriland’s subsidiaries increased by 17%, a PwC audit seen by Bloomberg shows that in Congo, accounts increased almost five times that year to $ 279 million, representing more than a tenth of the group’s total at the time. The influx transformed the bank, and would destroy the lives of two employees who provided information to anti-bribery organizations in Europe about the origin of the money. Gradi Koko Lobanga, the former head of the unit’s internal audit division, and Navy Malela Mawani, its parent company, have since decided to go public with the allegations to counter the allegations that they manufactured the data. Both fled the Congo and sought asylum in Europe. New files that the two men shared with the Paris-based African Whistleblower Protection Platform, known as Pplaaf, and several media outlets, including Bloomberg, suggest that Afriland Congo has created a niche for itself in doing business with risky customers, including Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler. The documents cover banking operations in Afriland between late 2017 and early 2019 and show that at least seven sanctioned individuals and companies had bank accounts, although some with small amounts of cash. Africa Congo, its sister bank in Cameroon and its father The Swiss company has not responded to repeated requests for comment. There were accounts maintained by a company that the US government said believed to be a subsidiary of a sanctioned company linked to a Lebanese Hezbollah financier, which the US considers a terrorist organization, and another that blacklisted for the same reason in December 2019. Hezbollah’s media office did not respond to two calls seeking comment on the group’s activities in Congo. North KoreaOther accounts were linked to a statuary builder owned by North Korea. Concerns that North Korea was using statue-building companies to help finance its weapons programs have prompted the United Nations, the United States and the European Union to adopt this practice. The UN expert panel on North Korea this month recommended that the Security Council sanction the two owners, Pak Hwa Song and Hwang Kil Su, according to excerpts from the report shared with Bloomberg. An email and a phone call to their company, Congo Aconde SARL, went unanswered. Still other records show large amounts of money flowing through the personal accounts of Congolese politicians. But the biggest, by far, were the accounts apparently linked to Gertler, one of Israel’s richest men, a burly billionaire in his 40s with a history of controversy in Congo. In December 2017, the U.S. sanctioned Gertler for alleged corruption in the oil and mining business. The Treasury Department accused him of acting as an intermediary between multinational companies and the state and of opening companies on behalf of former Congolese president Joseph Kabila, which Gertler denies. A year after its sanction, deposits from companies and individuals linked to Gertler grew to more than a third of total deposits in Afriland Congo, according to a PwC audit. “It was quite curious that a person who was just sanctioned by the United States started coming to the bank,” said Koko, one of the whistleblowers, in an interview at a lawyer’s office in Paris last week. Three e-mails since February 22 to Afriland units in Cameroon and Congo, its headquarters in Switzerland, as well as to Afriland Congo’s executive director and executive vice president, went unanswered. Afriland spokesman Cameroon did not respond when called by Bloomberg. A person who answered the phone at the Swiss parent company on Friday said the email address was not working and asked Bloomberg to send a letter. He declined to provide any other contact information for Fokam, the group’s president. The Congo unit has previously told Global Witness and Pplaaf that it has not violated any regulations or helped any of its clients circumvent United States sanctions. the new business in 2018, said Malela, the former parent, who started working at the bank 12 years ago. “We never received bonuses at the end of the year” until then, he said. At that time, Koko had already sought refuge in Europe. As an internal auditor, he oversaw all bank accounts and claims to recognize the risks that Afriland was taking. Two months after Gertler was sanctioned, Koko wrote a letter warning the directors of the Congolese subsidiary that account service for companies linked to Gertler, as well as others linked to Zoe Kabila, the then president’s sister, could result in penalties or sanctions for the bank. irregularities are likely to expose the bank to non-compliance from a national and international point of view, ”wrote Koko. He recommended that the bank block all accounts linked to the two men and report them to the competent authorities. Zoe Kabila did not respond to four emails requesting comments. The reaction of Afriland officials to Koko’s concerns was swift, but not in the way he intended. Instead of investigating the accounts, he said one of the bank’s directors intimidated him. Violent threats “He told me, ‘These people are not just anybody’ and that they could shoot me while I was leaving the bank,” said Koko. . The threats then became violent, he says, refusing to provide further details. In a statement provided by a Gertler spokesman on Friday in response to the latest allegations, Gertler said the allegations about him were “totally untrue”. He said the bank’s two employees were “victims” of “terrible conduct” by anti-bribery organizations, saying they were co-opted for illegal acts, including theft of confidential bank data about him and forging documents. “They cannot return to their homeland, their lives having been destroyed by the reckless decision making of Global Witness and Pplaaf,” said Gertler of the whistleblowers. The bankers’ previous disclosures were published by Bloomberg in July along with a report by Global Witness and Pplaaf. That report described a network of individuals and companies that appeared to be using Afriland to move money on Gertler’s behalf. Gertler denied any wrongdoing and disputes the idea that he was avoiding the sanctions, some of which have recently been mitigated. Afriland’s lawyers say Koko and Malela stole and falsified bank data. Death PenaltyAfriland identified Koko and Malela after the initial report in July and filed a criminal complaint against them in the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa. An Afriland lawyer, Eric Moutet, said on Thursday that a court last year found the two men guilty of theft, forgery and breach of bank secrecy. He also convicted them of a criminal association, a charge that could lead to the death penalty. The Paris-based lawyer said the judges gave the toughest possible sentence because the defendants did not appear in court. The decision would set “a deplorable precedent” that would deter future whistleblowers, Nick Elebe, Congo’s lawyer and director for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, said Friday. Congolese courts must investigate the allegations, which, if confirmed, “could harm the entire banking system, while posing risks to the country’s economy and public savings,” he said. Although the death penalty is still under Congo law, no executions have been carried out in the country since 2003. When Koko fled, Malela decided to stay behind, copying more documents and sending them to her former colleague in Europe. Finally, he also left the country before Pplaaf and Global Witness published their joint report last year. Koko received asylum in Europe in 2019, while Malela’s application is still pending. Representatives of Gertler and a person mentioned in the Global Witness and Pplaaf report say they have sued the two organizations for defamation. Global Witness and Pplaaf said they had not seen copies of the files. “We deny these allegations and support our sources and our investigation,” the two organizations said on Friday. Sanctions ReprieveAfriland also filed a complaint against the two organizations in a court in Paris in early July, the day before the report was published. Global Witness and Pplaaf said in their report that they could not prove that the bank’s network of individuals and companies was used to escape U.S. sanctions and does not claim any criminal behavior. On January 15, in the final days of the Trump administration, the U.S. Treasury Department eased sanctions against Gertler and his companies until January 2022 without explanation. Bloomberg said the Biden government is likely to reverse that decision. Gertler said in an e-mailed statement that the extension was based on his commitment to “comply with the terms and conditions” set by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Both Malela and Koko want to remain in the banking sector and say they know other potential whistleblowers from Congolese banks. “The things we are reporting are more important than the fear we can have,” said Koko. “Therefore, we will continue to condemn these actions that go against the public interest, despite the fear.” For more articles like this, visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay on top of the most trusted business news source. © 2021 Bloomberg LP