Call to Re-impose US Sanctions on Gertler
March 08, 21
(IDEX Online) - The Biden administration is under pressure to re-impose sanctions on Israeli diamond billionaire Dan Gertler (pictured).
He had his US assets frozen in 2017 amid allegations that he'd looted the Democratic Republic of Congo of its copper, cobalt and other mineral resources.
Former President Trump quietly, and controversially, granted him a reprieve during his final days in office.
But activists and politicians are now urging President Biden to revoke the one-year provisional license that effectively lifts the sanctions, albeit with close monitoring of his business activities.
Thirty civil society organizations in the United States and Congo have jointly written to newly-appointed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, according to the Middle East Eye news website, as have Democrats senators Benjamin Cardin, Dick Durbin and Cory Booker.
"We cannot accept that the last 20 years of opacity in the mining sector to the detriment of the Congolese people can go unnoticed," Jimmy Kande of the Congo is Not for Sale collective told the site. "One does not become an angel in one day."