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Swiss Gold Refiner Accused Of Abetting Congo War Via Money Laundering
The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a terrible ordeal…Part of what funded the long conflict was gold mined illegally in the resource-rich Congo…The Swiss nonprofit TRIAL announced Monday that it was targeting a Swiss gold refinery part owned by Commerzbank and the Austrian mint for refining gold from the Congo. TRIAL said it filed a criminal complaint against gold refiner Argor-Heraeus SA, accusing the firm of refining 3 tons of gold ore pillaged from the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2004 and 2005. TRIAL suspects Argor-Heraeus “of being guilty of the crime of laundering the proceeds of a major crime … and handling goods pillaged during an armed conflict,” it said in a statement…Argor-Heraeus denied the accusations in a statement released Monday.