The world's largest mining and resources company extended a US$45 Million loan to a controversial billionaire to help secure mining rights in a poor central African nation, according to revealed secrets from The Paradise Papers.

The Anglo-Swiss giant corporation Glencore paid the money to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, who has a long history in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  More than half of the country's population lives below the poverty line because of rampant corruption and political violence.  Its mineral resources are worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year to those who can access it.

In 2008, Glencore learned that DRC president Joseph Kabila wanted to renegotiate terms on the Katanga Mine, demanding a half billion dollars in an "access premium" to allow the exploitation of copper and cobalt at the mine.  Believing the demands were "quite unacceptable", Glencore called in Mr. Gertler, who was able to get that fee reduced from $585 Million to $140 Million.

"For a country that dependent on it natural resource wealth, deals like this which just suck money out of the economy have hugely negative consequences for DR Congo," said anti-corruption campaigner Pete Jones of Global Witness. 

A 2001 UN investigation accused Mr. Gertler of giving $20 Million to DRC president Joseph Kabila to equip his army against rebel groups in exchange for a monopoly on the country's diamonds.  A 2013 Africa Progress Panel report said a string of mining deals struck by companies linked to Gertler had deprived the country of more than $1.3 Million in potential revenue.  And Gertler is rumored to be the unnamed executive mentioned in a US Justice Department deferred prosecution who, with others, paid more than $100 Million in bribes over a decade to DRC government officials "to obtain special access to and preferential prices for opportunities" in the country’s mining sector for a US hedge fund.

Gertler's lawyer denies reports of wrongdoing.

Glencore also denies accusations of bad practices:  The CIA said the company violated international economic sanctions on Iraq; It's also accused of environmental pollution, poisoning rivers, and allowing child labor in its African mines.