Out of Africa: British Offshore Secrecy and Congo’s Missing $1.5 Billion
- London Global Witness 2016
- 20p.
The report bemoans rampant corruption and mismanagement as the reasons that has kept Congo’s citizens in poverty while the illicit trade in minerals has funded violence and armed conflict for decades accounting to a loss of 1.5 billion. This money has instead gone to a handful of anonymous companies, whose real owners are hidden under layers of paper companies, located in an offshore tax haven in the British Overseas Territories. The secrecy of the offshore business world which facilitated these deals allows corrupt politicians and businessmen and women to launder money, dodge taxes and strike suspect deals while keeping their identities secret. This is the story of these secret mining sales, from Congo via Caribbean tax havens to the heart of London’s financial district. It looks look at the fallout from the exposé of the deals, show how the loopholes that allowed them to happen remain in place, and examine what needs to be done to prevent Congo’s 2016 elections being beset by the same turmoil as in 2011.
