Misinvoicing and smuggling of chrome ore is cheating Zimbabwe’s exchequer out of many millions of US dollars a year according to The Independent, one of the country’s most read newspapers.
It says the government has been collecting annual earnings of more than US$15 million per from chrome ore exports, but has been losing even more than that due to smuggling and trade-based financial criminality.
Ore hidden
Companies reportedly smuggle out chrome ore hidden in sand and fail to declare the full amount of the metal they produce and export, according to an investigation by the Zimbabwean newspaper.
It says that miners in Lalapansi told reporters that some companies ship chrome ore hidden in soil out of the country and then extract the mineral from it.
Depressing market
Aside from depriving the government of revenue, some miners are complaining that the smuggled and misinvoiced ore is pushing the market price of chrome down.
One small-scale miner meanwhile told the newspaper of a growing number of foreign buyers who were colluding and forcing the price of chrome down.
Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News
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