Gold Trading Controversy
In January 2012, Mutombo was mentioned in a United Nations report regarding his role in a failed gold deal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2010, Mutombo, Houston businessman Kase Lawal, and mineral trader Carlos St. Mary worked out a deal to acquire and then sell over a thousand pounds of gold from Africa. Mutombo said that the gold belonged to "his people". However, when Mutombo's associates tried to complete the deal in the city of Goma, Lawal's jet was seized by local officials, and much of their money ended up with Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese militia leader wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Fred Robarts, a UN Security Council participant, said, "Our understanding was that Dikembe Mutombo's role was as an intermediary. We don't suggest that he was part of some criminal gang. He thought that there was money to be made out of this deal and tried to set it up with a buyer to make a share of the profit; in that, he was probably naive." Former UN official Jason Stearns said that Mutombo displayed "abject negligence", adding, "For anybody involved in business in a place like the Congo, before they carry out any deals they need to do due diligence." Mutombo did not publicly comment on the matter.
Read more about this topic: Dikembe Mutombo
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