JOHANNESBURG - Tanzania said on Saturday it planned to nationalise diamonds whose value it put at $29.5 million (R380.61m) belonging to a mine majority owned by London-listed Petra Diamonds after it accused the miner of under-declaring its mineral exports.
The diamonds were seized at the main airport in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam on August 31 as they were being exported by Williamson Diamonds to Antwerp, Belgium.
The government first confirmed the confiscation on Thursday, when President John Magufuli was receiving audits by parliamentary committees on the mining sector.
“While Williamson Diamonds declared in its documentation that the value of the diamonds was $14.798m, a fresh valuation done by the government established that the actual value of the diamonds is $29.5m,” Tanzania’s Finance and Planning Ministry said.
Cheating
“Among the legal action to be taken it includes the nationalisation of all the diamonds seized after it was established that there was cheating involved in declaring the actual value of the minerals,” it said.
Petra owns 75% of the stake in Williamson Diamonds, with the remaining shares held by the government. The Williamson mine accounted for 18percent of Petra’s revenue last year.
On Thursday, the company said its business was conducted in a transparent manner and that it had complied with all legislation in Tanzania.
The government halted the export of the diamond shipment and ordered a fresh sorting and valuation of the minerals to verify if the actual value was declared and all relevant taxes were paid.