Mossad, a mining magnate and a mystery in Congo

One of Israel’s richest men does his business from a discreet floor in the Israel Diamond Exchange and lives in a nondescript villa in one of Tel Aviv’s drabber suburbs. At home he has been little known to the public. But across Africa his name has long resounded controversially, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo (drc). Dan Gertler, aged 48, the scion of a diamond-trading family, began doing business there in the 1990s and has since bought lucrative mining concessions, partly due to his closeness to Laurent and Joseph Kabila, father and son, who presided over the country, one after the other, from 1997 until three years ago. Mr Gertler’s interests in Congo have included diamond, copper and cobalt concessions, some of which he sold on to Glencore, one of the world’s biggest commodities traders.