LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, a major investor in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has recruited a British charity funding expert to chair his family fund's advisory board in a move to underscore its commitment to responsible investing.
The Gertler family's Fleurette Group announced the appointment of Benjamin Mancroft, a British hereditary peer and Conservative politician who chairs Phoenix Gaming, a charity lotteries operator, as chairman of its advisory board.
Mancroft is also president of the UK’s National Lotteries Council and serves as chairman of a number of UK-based organisations that work with disadvantaged children and charities in the drug and alcohol addiction sector, Fleurette said, flagging its own charity efforts in Congo through the Gertler Family Foundation (GFF).
"Lord Mancroft marked his appointment ... with his first visit to the DRC, touring GFF projects and Fleurette investments in N’Sele, Nganda Yala, Kolwezi and Lubumbashi," said the Fleurette statement.
Gertler is an influential figure in Congo's mining sector with close ties to the Kinshasa government. His Fleurette Group and its partners currently employ around 20,000 local workers.
However, it has been criticised for a lack of deal transparency by campaigners such as Global Witness, which monitors companies and individuals exploiting the war-ravaged country's rich mineral resources including diamonds, timber and gold.
Global Witness says there is a risk that deals could have benefited unknown corrupt Congolese government officials. Gertler has rejected the accusations.
Last month Congo's prime minister, Augustin Matata Ponyo, said the government knows it must do more to stamp out corruption.
(Reporting by Andrew Callus; Editing by Mark Potter)
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