Dominic Raab to investigate ‘blood gold’ trade that is bankrolling Russia

Former UK deputy prime minister is carrying out a review for trade association World Gold Council – Alastair Grant/AP

Mining companies have hired Dominic Raab to investigate the global “blood gold” trade that is funnelling billions of dollars towards Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The former UK deputy prime minister has been asked to carry out a review by the World Gold Council, a trade association, amid concerns that gold smugglers are evading Western sanctions and suppressing smaller miners.

This will involve making recommendations on how to tackle the problem, for example by introducing new industry supply chain standards or through better enforcement of sanctions.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Raab said: “The targeting of artisanal gold miners by mercenaries, terrorists and organised crime has inflicted the most appalling suffering.

“Meanwhile, the illicit gold plundered is funding war, terrorist groups and organised crime.

“We need concerted action to end this trade in blood gold, safeguard vulnerable communities and choke the flow of money going to those who threaten regional and international security.”

A Russian Wagner mercenary photographed in the Central African Republic

Since leaving the Government last year, Mr Raab, who also served as foreign secretary, has waded into the debate over mineral resources and competition between the West and China.

He joined Appian Capital as a geopolitical advisor in February.

He was also appointed chairman of a committee formed by the private equity firm and SAFE (Securing America’s Future Energy), a non-profit that advises the US Government.

His work for the World Gold Council comes after warnings that the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary outfit seen as a proxy of the Kremlin, is exploiting turmoil in West Africa to plunder supplies of gold and use the proceeds to help fund Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The group has gained control over the Central African Republic’s largest gold mine, Ndassima.

The Wagner group has gained control over Ndassima gold mine – Anadolu

This was in exchange for propping up the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra amid an ongoing civil war in the country, according to a report published in December.

The report, “Blood Gold”, produced by the charities Consumer Choice Center and 21Democracy, claimed Wagner was producing an estimated $290m worth of gold annually, with the Ndassima site thought to contain deposits worth $2.8bn overall.

Wagner is said to smuggle gold out of the country using methods borrowed from organised crime groups, such as transporting the goods overland to nearby countries such as Cameroon or Sudan and then selling them via trusted contacts.

The group is also thought to have used private jets instead of cargo planes to transport gold by air to avoid international controls.

At the same time, it is said to have brutally crushed the rival operations of artisanal miners in the areas surrounding the Ndassima mine.

Elsewhere in Sudan, Wagner controls a major gold refinery and has used Russian military planes to ship the metal out of the country.

In Mali, the group is paid a reported $11m per month to protect private mining operations sanctioned by the ruling military junta.

Once the gold has been extracted from Africa, it is thought to be laundered in Russia-friendly jurisdictions, such as the United Arab Emirates, the Blood Gold report said.

The Kremlin has earned more than $2.5bn from the trade of African gold since February 2022, when Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a report published in December.

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