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THE PLUNDER ROUTE TO PANAMA How African oligarchs steal from their countries THE PLUNDER ROUTE TO PANAMA The Panama Papers project last year revealed that there are quite a few African politicians, their relatives and friends among those who have stored hidden wealth in off-shore bank accounts. But how did the money get there? An investigation by the African Investigative Publishing Collective in partnership with Africa Uncensored and ZAM. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 2 3 INTRODUCTION TOGO | THE MOZAMBIQUE | PRESIDENTS’ THE MINING FRIENDS HANDLE LICENSES ARE FOR THE PHOSPHATES THE GENERALS 3 3 8 4 5 6 DRC | THE ANTI- RWANDA | BURUNDI | THE CORRUPTION ALL THE RULING MILITIA GIVES ADVISOR DOESN’T PARTY’S OUT PROTECTION PAY TAX SKYSCRAPERS RECEIPTS 14 18 22 7 8 9 10 SOUTH AFRICA | BOTSWANA | CONCLUSION WHO WE ARE | THE ZUPTA THE PRESIDENT THE AIPC, AU, EMPIRE BANKS OWNS THE ZAM AND THE IN DUBAI PARADISE TEAM 328 32 35 36 2 Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION When Canadian mining company First Quantum is earmarked for certain companies, creating shortag- wanted to pay due tax of sixty million dollars on its es and damaging the economy. Botswana ‘s president copper mining operation in the DRC in 2009, it was helps take tourism profits to off-shore tax havens. The told to pay the tax director four million, pass six mil- looting by South African President Zuma has seen lion to the government and keep the rest. “Because losses of up to, and presumably over, US$ seven bil- no one here pays tax.” After the company had refused lion in taxpayers’ money transferred to private bank to conduct business that way it saw itself accused of accounts in Dubai. Recent investigative projects by ‘misconduct.’ The mine was seized and sold on to the Premium Times in Nigeria, Makaangola in Angola, Israeli mining tycoon Dan Gertler, a good friend of the and Global Witness in the DRC and Zimbabwe have DRC’s ruling elite and nicknamed ‘Mr Grab.’ Last year, unearthed similar looting-by-political-elite in these Gertler’s name was found more than two hundred countries. times in connection with off-shore bank accounts in tax havens in the groundbreaking ‘Pan- ama Papers’ project. So was the name of Jaynet Kabila, the twin sister of DRC “They own these houses but president Joseph Kabila. they don’t live here” It was because of stories like the one about First Quantum, and because of the Panama Papers, that we decided to take a closer look The question why African oligarchs behave this way at African political leaders’ behaviour with regard to whilst their people in some cases are literally their own countries’ resources. International reports starving, is perhaps best left to African authors and and activist groups had often focused on multina- philosophers. One can speculate that maybe, in the tionals which were shipping resources out of Africa, race to power after the devastation of colonialism, but was that focus complete? Were our leaders simply the ones with the sharpest elbows won. Or maybe the weak and bribe-able, or more complicit than that? lack of checks and balances allows unethical leaders to exploit the situation together with criminals. But We looked in seven countries at African leaders’ roles what we unearthed indicates that these elites have, to in sectors of the economy and the state where they, some extent, morphed into the very colonialist plun- and not the private sector, were in control. Togo’s na- der structures that they replaced. One of us, noting tionalised phosphate resources, for example, should giant potholes in Kinshasa’s richest suburb, asked have ‘economically liberated’ its people. But we found why the rich didn’t even seem to care about their own that Togo’s president sells the resource under the streets. “They own these houses but they don’t live market price to shady shippers. In Mozambique, vil- here,” the local team member responded. “They live lagers are violently removed from ruby fields licensed in France.” to generals and ministers. State budgets are used to build skyscrapers for the ruling party whilst people go hungry in Rwanda. Fo- reign currency controlled by the Burundi presidency The plunder route to Panama 3 TOGO 2 THE PRESIDENTS’ FRIENDS HANDLE THE PHOSPHATES “I don’t know why these people are here,” board years after independence by shooting his predeces- chairman Ignace Klomégah of the Société Nouvelle sor in 1967, now by fils Faure Gnassingbé. Phosphate des Phosphates du Togo (SNPT), says nervously when manager Raphael Edery controls the resource from caught in the corridors of Lomé’s Ecobank. “They the president’s office, son Liron Edery helps from the were here when I started. The president put them office of the SNPT in Paris. (Nobody knows why the there.” Refusing to answer any more questions, he SNPT has an office in Paris since according to export disappears in one of the passages of the bank. data, Togo doesn’t sell phosphates to that country. “But every former French colony’s state enterprise “They” are the Moroccan-Israeli father-and-son- has an office in Paris, in the Marais,” says a South couple of Raphael and Liron Edery, who administer African anti-corruption expert whose work has taken Togo’s main mineral resource, phosphate, from the him to many places in the West where African elites offices of President Faure Gnassingbé. From there, like to hang out.) the president and his friends sell the countries phosphates to “whomever they want and at which price they want,” say The shippers don’t have an sources within the company. But even our contacts say they don’t know how email address much phosphate the country actually produces annually. “Only the SNPT has access to the countries’ phosphate production fig- It is known, however, who the main buyers of Togo’s ures,” says a report from Extractive Industries Trans- phosphates are: a family of Indian shippers called parency Initiative, EITI (1). Gupta and their company Kalyan. According to com- pany sales sheets over 2016 and 2017 the father-and- All that the citizens of Togo know is that the phos- son venture of Ashok and son Amit Gupta buys close phate, nationalised in 1974 as a grand gesture of ‘eco- to ninety percent of Togo’s phosphates. The company nomic liberation’ by President Gnassingbé (senior, the web entry by the Société Nouvelle des Phosphates du father of the current president) at the time, has been Togo calls them their “privileged clients (2).” managed not by ‘the people,’ but by the Gnassingbés: Ashok Gupta also used to be the director of Getax, first by papa, who took the reins of the country seven an Australian enterprise incorporated in tax-friendly Kalyan does almost all the shipping of phosphates from Togo 4 Togo | The presidents’ friends handle the phosphates THE PRESIDENTS’ FRIENDS HANDLE THE PHOSPHATES Singapore, now under investigation by the Austra- ers, including Getax, got the phosphates still more lian Federal Police (3) for bribing of politicians in cheaply. According to UN international trade statistics exchange for the phosphate resources of the Pacific (5) they bought the resource from Togo at a bargain Island nation Nauru. (According to Australian news price of US$ 100 per tonne in the same year. In com- reports (4) they obtained these for less than the mar- parison, Australian buyers of Moroccan phosphates ket price, US$ 43 per tonne at a time when the world paid US$ 166 per tonne. market price was US$ 400.) Sadly for Ashok Gupta, his bid -through Getax, to- When we tried to contact Getax for comment, we gether with Getax partner and Indian client Coroman- found its website offline. We then phoned Kalyan’s del- last year to exploit the vast phosphates resources Dubai headquarters to ask for an email address where not yet mined by the SNPT failed (more about who we could send questions, but three persons we spoke did get the contract below.) But the Ashok Gupta to (and who seemed puzzled at being asked such a family did get a consolation price. A new hotel, the 2 question) said they would “have to look for one’ and Février Radisson Blu, rising mightily over the capi- that they would get back to us. tal Lomé, has been funded with in majority a West African Development Bank loan and Togo state funds. Bargains Ashok Gupta’s family now runs the hotel of choice for Kalyan buys Togo’s phosphates at higher prices than West Africa’s multimillion dollar traders, dealers and Ashok Gupta’s other company, Getax, did in Nauru. politicians, where room rates per night start at around According to the SNPT sales sheets we obtained, Kaly- US$ 200 -two months’ salary for most Togolese- up to an paid Togo’s state company an average of US$ 107 US$ 1800 for the more upmarket suites. The 2 Février per tonne in 2015. This is however still below market is also the president’s newest prestige venue: he ad- price, which in that year varied between US$ 115 and dresses conferences and international partners here. US$ 120 per tonne. Remarkably, Australian import- The breakdown of investment inputs in West African francs for the hotel is US$ 18 million (West African Development Bank, interest rate unknown) the state of Togo (US 33 million) and the Gupta family US$ 29 million (under ‘equity.’) (Source: West African Development Bank) The plunder route to Panama 5 The 2 Février Radisson Blu hotel in Lomé Sudden deaths One would think that Togo’s president, if he was expats and company president Michel Kézie who have serious about the country’s minerals ‘economically the benefit of chauffeur-driven luxury cars, houses in liberating’ his people, would want to sell its resources the best suburbs of Lomé, and all-expenses paid trips.

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