Fleurette, a former holding company of Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler who is under U.S. sanctions has agreed to pay $30 billion to settle a Dutch investigation into corruption involving mining deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Netherlands-registered firm has been under scrutiny since 2018 for allegedly engaging in bribery to secure copper and cobalt mining rights at below-market prices. Investigators focused on whether Fleurette, which served as the holding company for Gertler’s group, and commodities giant Glencore paid tens of millions of U.S. dollars to an advisor of former DRC President Joseph Kabila. Kabila, a close associate of Gertler, led the country from 2001 to 2019.
In an official statement, the Dutch prosecutor’s office confirmed the outcome:
“We concluded that Fleurette, together with others, was guilty of foreign public official bribery in the DRC in the framework of the acquisition of mining licenses.”
The settlement marks one of the largest corruption-related resolutions in European legal history and underscores ongoing international scrutiny of mining operations in the DRC.
