"US court orders $135 million for shareholders of stolen DR Congo mine, but local communities left out", 4 november 2020

The shareholders were recognised as “victims of crime” by the court for loss of their interest in the prospective Kalukundi copper and cobalt mine in southern Congo. Congolese communities living near the stolen mine received no compensation as their plight was not taken into consideration in the US court proceedings.

...International Finance Corporation (IFC), an important Africo shareholder, could have participated to recover millions for the fight against poverty...IFC chose not to join the legal action until the eleventh hour... IFC’s late entry triggered a dispute about whether it gave away its restitution rights as part of an opaque sale of shares to Africo’s former chairman. It is not clear if IFC is on the shareholder victim list.

“Thousands of impoverished Congolese residents are missing from this case and will receive no compensation for their loss of social and economic benefits,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, the Executive Director of...RAID....“IFC was repeatedly asked to step up, but failed to take action early on, hasn’t revealed if it will recover any funds, and is showing little regard for the welfare of those who need it most.”

The US judge also confirmed a $213 million penalty against the Och-Ziff subsidiary after it pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Och-Ziff earlier paid a $200 million civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission. In total, Och-Ziff will have paid $548 million in monetary penalties and restitution...

As a former Africo shareholder impacted by the corruption, IFC could have participated alongside other shareholder victims in the legal action from the outset based on its six per cent holding plus its share options, thereby providing an indirect opportunity for Congolese residents to be represented. After the Kalukundi mine was stolen from Africo, the mining project was mothballed and thousands of Congolese residents living near the mine missed out on employment opportunities, access to clean water, health care and education, which were committed as part of the project...

Since 2019, RAID repeatedly pressed IFC to seek restitution for Congolese communities or explain why it was not joining the legal action by other shareholders, but IFC provided no clear answers. IFC sold its shares in Africo more than a year after the company was effectively corrupted away. IFC said in written correspondence to RAID (1 May 2019) that it had transferred its legal rights to a “third party” but did not say who the party was nor how restitution rights which only arose in 2016, following the DOJ’s legal action against Och-Ziff, could have been anticipated and transferred as part of its initial share disposal...