Footsie firms caught up in Congo looting probe

The UN says $5bn was stolen from the Democratic Republic of Congo. But were UK firms involved?

Barclays, Standard Chartered, BAE Systems and Anglo American are among the multinational companies that have written to the United Nations questioning the basis for a report released last week on illegal trading in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The 58-page report by a Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Security Council alleges that over $5bn (£3.2bn) of minerals, including diamonds, copper and coltan, have been looted from the war-torn African country during five years of bloody civil unrest.

The Panel accuses senior officers in the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe as well as politicians, business people and corporations of being complicit in the looting.

The report was presented to the Security Council by the panel's chairman, Mahmoud Kassem, on Thursday and is expected to be ratified within weeks.

However, it has already raised howls of protest from those whose names are in it. In the appendix, 85 businesses are listed "considered by the panel to be in violation of OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises". This includes three FTSE 100 companies, Barclays, Standard Chartered and Anglo American, as well as other well-known names such as Bayer, De Beers and Fortis. Few of the companies listed are mentioned in the body of the report, creating much confusion.

Anglo said in a statement: "We note that there is no explanation as to why this panel considers

that we are in breach of the OECD guidelines and we are confident this is not the case. Anglo American is confident that, at all times, our minimal involvement in the DRC has been fully compliant with international legal norms."

Barclays and Standard Chartered, the two largest banking groups in sub-Saharan Africa, were similarly bemused. "We have not been given any details of why we are included and have asked the UN for an explanation," said a Barclays spokeswoman.

Standard Chartered said: "We have contacted the UN for clarification. If they have any evidence that any of our staff have acted in breach of OECD guidelines we will investigate it."

The report also claimed that spares for Hawk fighters, made by BAE Systems and owned by the Zimbabwean army, were supplied to Zimbabwe in breach of international sanctions earlier this year.

A BAE spokesman said that the company had not supplied any spares and that, as far as he knew, the planes were grounded.

The report recommends placing a travel ban and financial restrictions on 54 people and levying fines on 29 companies. Among the individuals is John Bredenkamp, a Zimbabwean former rugby player who lives in Surrey. He is accused of arms dealing and illegal diamond trading, among other activities. The Labour MP Paul Farrelly has written to the Foreign Office asking what action might be taken against Mr Bredenkamp.

Another company mentioned is Oryx Natural Resources, a diamond mining group, which had to cancel its plans to list in London because of controversy over its links to the DR Congo. The report accuses Oryx of having links with the Zimbabwean government and acting as a front for the commercial interests of the Zimbabwean military.

Geoffrey White, the group's deputy managing director, travelled to the UN in New York last week to refute the allegations. He said that, were it not for the UN's legal immunity, Oryx would sue for libel.