Congo backs billionaire Gertler after Och-Ziff allegations

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) defended Israeli-billionaire Dan Gertler’s business dealings in the mineral-rich country, five days after he was linked to a bribery investigation by US authorities. “For us an attack on him is an attack on the Congo,” Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, President Joseph Kabila’s chief diplomatic adviser, said in an interview Tuesday in the capital, Kinshasa. “Mr. Gertler’s businesses are legitimate. He pays his taxes, making a good contribution to our government in monetary terms.”