Business Insider reported that AVZ’s partner in the DRC is Dathomir Mining Resource. Dathomir sold a 60% stake in the Manono licence to AVZ and, in return, now owns 13.9% of the Australian company.
According to
documents seen by
Business Insider, Dathomir’s owners are the Winner Group with a 20% stake and Dathomir International with 80% of the shares.
The Winner Group is run by
Guy Loando (AVZ director), an influential DRC lawyer with close ties to the Kabila regime. The other shareholder, Dathomir International, is based in the Seychelles where companies are permitted to keep their owners secret.
“AVZ has not revealed who is behind Dathomir – a standard requirement for most due diligence processes,”
Business Insiderreported.
All that is known about Dathomir International is that its first director was Edmond Lecourt, who runs a Monaco-based corporate services firm called Getad. Lecourt reportedly works for a number of high-profile clients including Boris Rotenberg, the Russian oligarch and friend of Vladimir Putin.
According to
media reports, Rotenberg used Lecourt and Getad to secretly acquire two properties in the French Riviera.
It has also been
reported that there is significant Chinese involved in AVZ and the Manono deposit. The director of Dathomir Mining Resource is Cong Mao Huai, who was described by
Africa Intelligence as the “godfather” of Chinese mining in the DRC. He is said to be a key player in arranging deals with the government, including the transfer of the Manono license to Dathomir.