French prosecutor drops case against Apple over Congo minerals

A document seen by Reuters on February 27th shows that French prosecutors have closed a case filed by the Democratic Republic of Congo against Apple, which accused Apple subsidiaries of using conflict minerals in its supply chain.

The DRC’s lawyers said in December that it had filed criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium. Apple said at the time that it strongly disputed the allegations and had told suppliers not to use the minerals in question sourced from Congo or Rwanda.

In the document seen by Reuters, dated February 18th, the Paris prosecutor’s office wrote that the accusations of money laundering and deceptive business practices were “not sufficiently well-founded” and closed the case, meaning it won’t take the complaint any further.

The office invited the DRC to contact a different office “with jurisdiction over war crimes”. Neither the prosecutor’s office nor Apple immediately responded to an emailed request for comment on February 27th by Reuters.

Two lawyers working for the DRC in France, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, said the decision was a “very partial dismissal” that they want to challenge, citing the “extreme seriousness of the facts denounced and the need to identify and prosecute those responsible.”

The DRC is a major source of tin, tantalum and tungsten, so-called 3T minerals used in both computers and mobile phones. UN experts and rights groups say some artisanal mines are run by armed groups involved in massacres of civilians, mass rapes, looting amongst other things.

The country’s mining heartlands in the east in the last three decades have been devastated by fighting between armed groups, some backed by neighbouring Rwanda, and the Congolese military.

The complaints filed in both France and Belgium were prepared on behalf of the justice minister of the DRC, and Belgium appointed an investigating magistrate in response, a lawyer for the DRC said back in January.

Reuters