EspañolWASHINGTON DC & PARIS, 22 May 2024 – Four weeks after a group of international lawyers representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) demanded that Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Apple US parent company answer a series of detailed questions about whether the company’s supply chain is tainted by blood minerals pillaged from the country, the tech giant has remained silent and neither answered nor even acknowledged receipt of the questions.
On April 22, 2024, the group of lawyers, led by Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners LLP in Washington DC and William Bourdon of Bourdon & Associés in Paris, demanded that Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as Apple subsidiaries in France, respond to the questions within a three-week deadline.
Meanwhile, after Amsterdam & Partners LLP published a report on April 25, 2024, entitled “Blood Minerals – The Laundering of DRC’s 3T Minerals by Rwanda and Private Entities”, a number of whistleblowers have come forward, joining others who have provided information to the DRC’s lawyers about Apple’s supply chain in DRC.
“In recent weeks, since the release of the Blood Minerals report by Amsterdam & Partners, we have received new evidence from whistleblowers. It is more urgent than ever that Apple provide real answers to the very serious questions we have raised, as we evaluate our legal options,” Robert Amsterdam said. “The absence of a response is an implicit admission that the questions we asked Apple were relevant,” added William Bourdon.
According to DRC’s lawyers, Apple’s silence can be seen, at the very least, as a testament to the company’s embarrassment in providing accurate answers beyond the banal and predictable rhetoric of denial served up by Apple’s spokespersons four weeks ago.
In these circumstances, the lawyers state that they have received instructions from the DRC to determine, in coming weeks and months, what legal actions will be taken as provided under US law and French law, given the evidence that has been gathered, in order to establish Apple’s responsibility in the alleged acts complained of.
Press contact: Boris Durande, Stratecom PR, tel. +33 6 07 84 52 35
