Congolese authorities announce legal proceedings against a subcontracting company hired by the Canadian Kibali Gold Mine and accused of violating the law on subcontracting in the northeast of the DRC.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
The law on subcontracting requires that only companies with majority Congolese capital (at least 51%) can operate in the subcontracting sector. The authorities therefore claim that Kibali Gold Mine, a major operator of gold mines in the DRC, had set up a system of nominees to disguise itself as a subcontractor of its own production activities and supplies.
For years, say the competent services, millions of dollars have escaped from the Congolese financial circuit through a foreign company, TCFF, which has had different names over the years. This Belgian-Indian company managed 90% of the subcontracting markets for Kibali Gold Mine in the Haut Uélé province.
“ TCFF is the old FFK, explains Miguel Katemb Kashal, the general director of ARSP, the policeman of subcontracting. When the population denounces, it changes its name, but it is always the same individuals. We conclude in black and white that TCFF is none other than Kibali Gold in disguise. There is no need to go from left to right, there must be legal proceedings. This should serve as a lesson to others. »
Christope Baseane Nanga, governor of Haut Uélé, is categorical in the face of large companies which justify the use of 100% foreign capital by pointing out a lack of skills in Congolese companies in certain areas: “ It is a problem of sharing dividends with the Congolese. Our province will not refuse to recover the 51% of profits that this company generated. »
According to the ARSP, these funds escape the Congolese circuit either through this system of nominees, or through the use of companies with foreign capital which allow payments outside the country.