The Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo rejected Glencore PLC‘s challenge that a commercial court is not competent to hear a petition to dissolve the joint venture between the company and state miner Gécamines SA, Reuters reported June 1, citing a lawyer representing the state miner.
In April, Gécamines began legal proceedings to dissolve Kamoto Copper Co. SARL following the joint venture’s failure to address a previously disclosed capital deficiency. The state miner accused parent Glencore of “draining” money from the Kamoto joint venture.
A report by the Carter Center in November 2017 disclosed that Gécamines allegedly failed to report about US$750 million of revenue it should have received from its joint venture partnerships between 2011 and 2014.
The Supreme Court in early May ruled to suspend capital deficiency proceedings following Kamoto’s challenge of the commercial court’s competency to hear the case.
Glencore is embroiled in a separate legal battle with Ventora Development SASU, a company affiliated with Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler. In April, Ventora served freezing orders after it accused Glencore’s Mutanda Mining SARL and Kamoto units of failing to make required royalty payments.
