Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler turned a nearly 30,000 percent profit by buying the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s oil rights in waters off its Atlantic Coast in 2006, then selling the same rights back to them six years later. KPFA’s Ann Garrison spoke to anti-corruption and resource theft watchdog Global Witness and filed this report.
KPFA/Ann Garrison: Global Witness researcher Daniel Balint-Kurti described Gertler’s oil rights purchase and resale to the Congolese people.
Daniel Balint-Kurti: So, in 2006, Nessergy, an offshore company associated with the businessman Dan Gertler, bought an oil block from the Congolese state for a signature bonus of half a million dollars. And then, six years later, it sold the block back to Congo for at least $150 million. That’s 300 times what it paid for it.
And then Angola was involved as well because the oil block is part of a shared oil zone with Angola, so Angola paid the money in the first instance, but ultimately Congo will have to pay because Congo will have to repay the purchase price from future oil revenues. So Congo lost out massively. They sold something for a half million dollars and bought it back for at least $150 million.
Written by Ann Garrison/Read more at San Francisco Bay View
