A former holding company linked to US-sanctioned Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler will pay $30 million to settle a Dutch corruption probe.
The case, launched in 2018, examined whether Fleurette and Swiss giant Glencore paid bribes to secure Congo mining rights.
Investigators suspected tens of millions of dollars were paid to a senior adviser of former president Joseph Kabila, a close Gertler ally.
The Dutch prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that Fleurette was fined 25.8 million euros for bribery linked to Congo mining licenses.
“By accepting this penal order, Fleurette, together with others, was guilty of foreign public official bribery in the DRC,” the statement said.
Dutch authorities previously ended their probe into Glencore after the Swiss firm paid a fine in a separate Swiss corruption case.
Fleurette lawyers confirmed the settlement concludes the investigation and emphasized that the Dutch authorities will not pursue charges against Gertler himself.
In a statement, Fleurette said the €25.8 million payment closed an eight-year probe into historic 2010 mining deals without charges.
Gertler, sanctioned by the US in 2017 for allegedly defrauding the Congolese state of $1.4 billion, retains significant influence in the DRC.
Although some sanctions were briefly lifted under former President Donald Trump, the US reinstated Gertler on its blacklist in March 2021.
In February 2022, Congo settled with Gertler, recovering disputed mining and oil assets valued at more than $2 billion.
Gertler’s profits in the Congo surfaced in 2016 through the Panama Papers, highlighting his decades-long role in the mineral-rich nation’s opaque deals.
The Israeli businessman has consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting he never engaged in graft or underhanded dealings in the DRC mining sector.