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Glencore wins injunction against Gertler following royalty claim Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on LinkedIn (opens new window) Save Save to myFT Cynthia O’Murchu and Henry Sanderson AN HOUR AGO Print this page Glencore has won a temporary injunction against sanctioned Israeli businessman Dan Gertler over $2.28bn of royalties he claimed he is owed from the miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Glencore was granted the relief by a court in London on Tuesday, following legal action brought by Mr Gertler in a DRC court last week, which sought a freeze on Glencore’s two key mines in the country. Mr Gertler, who was sanctioned by the US government in December, alleged Glencore has broken its agreement to pay the royalties, following the sanctions. The $2.28bn is for royalties Mr Gertler claims he is owed from Glencore’s Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) mine. He has also filed a separate claim for $695m against Glencore’s Mutanda mine in the DRC. Glencore had disputed the amounts and denied it is in breach of any of its obligations under its agreements with Mr Gertler. The injunction forbids Mr Gertler from taking any further steps in his legal action against Glencore’s KCC mine in the DRC. Mr Gertler’s action had a “nuclear impact” on Glencore’s operations at the KCC, subjecting local workers to a climate of fear and anxiety, Glencore’s lawyer argued. Mr Gertler’s legal action last week authorised the bailiff of the court in Kolwezi in the DRC to “freeze certain bank accounts, tangible moveable assets and intangible moving assets” at both Glencore’s KCC and Mutanda operations. Glencore’s shares have fallen 6 per cent since news of Mr Gertler’s action on Friday. Glencore has said the KCC royalty contract with Mr Gertler is subject to English law and the “exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.” When Mr Gertler was added to the sanctions list in December, the US Treasury said the businessman had “amassed his fortune through hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals” in the DRC. He had, it said, used his close friendship with President Joseph Kabila “to act as a middleman for mining asset sales in the DRC, requiring some multinational companies to go through Gertler to do business with the Congolese state”. There will be another hearing on May 11 in London.