Biden administration reimposes sanctions on Israeli mining magnet

The United States on Monday revoked a sanctions waiver for Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler that was issued in the last days of the Trump administration.

The Treasury Department said exempting Gertler from sanctions was “inconsistent with America’s strong foreign policy interests in combating corruption around the world,” specifically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The action came after Congolese and international human rights groups and several US legislators last month called on the Biden administration to reverse a last-minute move by Biden’s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

The Treasury imposed the sanctions in December 2017 and June 2018, accusing Gertler of using his friendship with Democratic Republic of the Congo’s former president, Joseph Kabila, to win sweetheart mining deals worth more than a billion dollars.

The Trump administration eased the sanctions in a secret action in its last week in office in January, a licence granted by the Treasury Department showed.