Zambia Says Glencore-Owned Mine May Have Erred on Taxes
Posté: Dim 13 Fév 2011 18:28Zambia Says Glencore-Owned Mine May Have Erred on Taxes
February 13, 2011, 10:51 AM EST
By Anthony Mukwita
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Zambian authorities say there may have been “irregularities” in tax submissions by Glencore International AG’s Mopani Copper Mines Plc, the director general of the country’s revenue authority said.
“If we establish that there is a shortfall in what Mopani submitted, they may have to settle the difference and if the audit exonerates them then there will be no case against them and this matter will be put to rest amicably,” Zambia Revenue Authority Director General Wisdom Nekairo said today in a telephone interview in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.
Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer, hired Grant Thornton Zambia and Econ Pöyry, a Norwegian global consulting and engineering company, in February 2009 to audit mining companies operating in the country, Nekairo said. They produced their preliminary report in November, he said.
Mopani today called the report “incomplete” and “factually incorrect.”
“From the outset the analysis does not take into account that the company is partially a custom smelting facility and as a result a lot of the analysis throws up inconsistent results,” Mopani said in an e-mailed statement.
The company is discussing the issue with the Zambian authorities, it said.
“The preliminary report points in the direction of possible irregularities,” Nekairo said. “We are still in discussion with the company and we shall have a comprehensive final position soon.”
The revenue authority informed Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane about the matter, Nekairo said. Musokotwane didn’t respond to calls today seeking comment.
--Editors: Karl Maier, Dan Weeks.
February 13, 2011, 10:51 AM EST
By Anthony Mukwita
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Zambian authorities say there may have been “irregularities” in tax submissions by Glencore International AG’s Mopani Copper Mines Plc, the director general of the country’s revenue authority said.
“If we establish that there is a shortfall in what Mopani submitted, they may have to settle the difference and if the audit exonerates them then there will be no case against them and this matter will be put to rest amicably,” Zambia Revenue Authority Director General Wisdom Nekairo said today in a telephone interview in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.
Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer, hired Grant Thornton Zambia and Econ Pöyry, a Norwegian global consulting and engineering company, in February 2009 to audit mining companies operating in the country, Nekairo said. They produced their preliminary report in November, he said.
Mopani today called the report “incomplete” and “factually incorrect.”
“From the outset the analysis does not take into account that the company is partially a custom smelting facility and as a result a lot of the analysis throws up inconsistent results,” Mopani said in an e-mailed statement.
The company is discussing the issue with the Zambian authorities, it said.
“The preliminary report points in the direction of possible irregularities,” Nekairo said. “We are still in discussion with the company and we shall have a comprehensive final position soon.”
The revenue authority informed Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane about the matter, Nekairo said. Musokotwane didn’t respond to calls today seeking comment.
--Editors: Karl Maier, Dan Weeks.