Controversy
In 2002 a United Nations panel named the George Forrest Group as one of 29 companies that should face sanctions for their operations in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their report said the group was taking as much as possible of the profit from their mining operations out of the country, and were providing little benefit to the DRC. The secretary general of the company denied these charges, citing the benefits from taxation and indirect returns.
In December 2010 Wikileaks published cables that they alleged showed that US officials were ignoring reports of dangerously high levels of radiation at Forrest's Luiswishi Mine, and implied that uranium was being separated from the ore which purportedly held only copper and cobalt. Groupe Forrest International refuted these rumors, saying that although uranium was present in the copper and cobalt ore from the mine, it was at far too low a grade to be exploited, and radioactivity in the Luiswishi mine was largely lower than the European standards.
In 2009 Forrest invested in Korongo Airlines, together with Brussels Airlines and local investors, for flights between Lubumbashi and Kinshasa. Launch of other domestic services depended on upgrades to airport infrastructure. As of April 2011 the airline was on the list of those banned from European Community airports due to safety concerns.
Read more about this topic: Forrest Group
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