Criminal Complaints Against Apple in Congo

By Sonia Rolley
PARIS (Reuters) – The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal complaints against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals in its supply chain, lawyers for the Congolese government told Reuters.

Congo is a major source of tin, tantalum, and tungsten, known as 3T minerals used in computers and mobile phones. Some artisanal mines are run by armed groups involved in civilian massacres, mass rapes, looting, and other crimes, according to U.N. experts and human rights groups.

Apple does not directly source primary minerals and claims it audits suppliers, publishes findings, and funds bodies that seek to improve mineral traceability. Its 2023 filing on conflict minerals to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that none of the smelters or refiners of 3T minerals or gold in its supply chain had financed or benefited armed groups in Congo or neighboring countries.

However, international lawyers representing Congo argue that Apple uses minerals pillaged from Congo and laundered through international supply chains, rendering the firm complicit in crimes taking place in Congo.

In parallel complaints filed to the Paris prosecutor’s office and to a Belgian investigating magistrate’s office on Monday, Congo accuses local subsidiaries Apple France, Apple Retail France, and Apple Retail Belgium of various offenses, including covering up war crimes, laundering tainted minerals, handling stolen goods, and engaging in deceptive commercial practices regarding supply chain integrity.

The French complaint emphasizes the knowledge of Apple regarding systemic wrongdoing in its mineral supply chains, citing reports from the U.N. and human rights organizations on the conflict in eastern Congo.

Belgium is viewed as having a particular moral obligation to act, given its historical role during the 19th-century colonial rule of King Leopold II. Congo’s Belgian lawyer Christophe Marchand stated, "It is incumbent on Belgium to help Congo in its effort to use judicial means to end the pillaging."

These complaints, prepared by lawyers on behalf of Congo’s justice minister, target not only the local subsidiaries but the Apple group as a whole. France and Belgium were chosen for their perceived strong commitment to corporate accountability. Judicial authorities in both countries will determine whether to investigate further and potentially bring criminal charges.

In a separate case in March, a U.S. federal court rejected a lawsuit trying to hold Apple, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Dell (NYSE:DELL), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) accountable for alleged reliance on child labor in Congolese cobalt mines.

Minerals Fuel Violence

Since the 1990s, Eastern Congo’s mining regions have suffered from ongoing violence involving armed groups and the Congolese military, with millions of civilians displaced and many deaths resulting from conflict.

Competition for minerals has been a significant driver of this violence, with armed groups sustaining themselves through profits from mineral exports, often smuggled via Rwanda. Rwanda denies benefiting from this trade.

Among the documents submitted in the complaint was a statement from the U.S. State Department expressing concerns about the illicit mineral trade financing conflict in Congo.

Congo’s complaints target ITSCI, an industry-funded monitoring scheme intended to help companies conduct due diligence on 3T mineral suppliers from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda. Lawyers claim ITSCI has been discredited, yet Apple continues to use it, falsely presenting its supply chain as clean.

The RMI, including over 500 members, announced in 2022 its removal of ITSCI from its list of approved traceability schemes, extending its suspension until at least 2026 due to ITSCI's failure to provide proper monitoring in high-risk areas.

While ITSCI defends its reliability, Apple’s 2023 conflict minerals filing mentioned ITSCI multiple times, despite the RMI's actions against it. The U.S. State Department noted that flaws in traceability schemes need more engagement to bring about necessary changes.

Lawyer Robert Amsterdam described the complaints as a "first salvo," marking the first criminal complaints by the Congolese state against a major tech company.