The Chinese company in which Hunter Biden held a stake invested in a Congolese mine that was the site of gross human rights abuses and at least one death.
Biden, son of Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, joined the board of Chinese investment firm BHR in 2013, while his father served as vice president. He purchased a 10 percent stake in the company in 2017 and maintained that stake even after he resigned from the board in October. Among BHR’s investments was the largest cobalt and copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Tenke Fungurume mine, where the Congolese military in June executed a brutal crackdown on illegal mining viewed as a threat to the mine’s bottom line. Since then, the military has torched houses and cracked down on dissent in the region—actions that drew the condemnation of human rights groups.
“Given the long history of excessive use of force by the Congolese army and its lack of appropriate training in managing public order, the DRC government must immediately withdraw its armed forces from the mines to avert unlawful killings,” Amnesty International spokeswoman Sarah Jackson said in a statement.
The violence came to a head in August, when the military shot a woman dead, according to AFP.
BHR finalized the sale of its stake in the mine to another Chinese entity in September, a transaction that netted the firm $1.1 billion. While Biden’s legal team has claimed that the BHR shares have yet to pay dividends, he stands to benefit financially when he sells those shares. Biden’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment about BHR’s dealings in the Congo. – READ MORE