The diamond
Controversy surrounds the 153-carat diamond valued at US$ 6.8 million found in the eastern Kono district two weeks ago.
According to the licensed miner who found it, Paramount Chief Melvin Ngekia, it came from Peima, near Tombodu in the Kamara chiefdom. Sounding surprisingly distraught, he told Politico that he had already sold it to a Freetown-based Lebanese businessman, Hisham Mackie. It is not known for how much since the sale reportedly preceded the valuation.
Now in a letter written by the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources to the National Minerals Agency (NMA), leaked to Politico, President Ernest Bai Koroma approved a 12% tax reduction on the diamond.
The concession, which has become a policy henceforth for all "Special Stones", means that the 15% stated in the NMA Act of 2009 is now history.
Sources at both the mines ministry and the Precious Minerals Trading - formerly GGDO - told Politico that there was an instruction on 19 February when the gemstone was to be valued, that it be put on hold. A couple of hours later, our sources say, the letter emerged with the new policy announcement, which our sources say was suspect.
Our sources say that in December last year there was a government insistence that the 15% law be respected "to the letter" when a 125-carat diamond was found, also in Kono. They wondered why this new policy had to be made on the day the US$ 6.8 million dollar one was to be valued and the policy given "immediate effect".
Civil society activist and Executive Director of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law has expressed serious concern over the development.
Ibrahim Tommy said "The Koroma-led administration is under an unconditional obligation to enforce the laws of the state - not to compromise them at will". He said that "At a time when the country needs every cent from its natural resources, there can be no sensible justification for such a reportedly huge tax reduction."
Tommy told Politico that "the government owes this nation an explanation for making a decision that is clearly not in the best interest of the country's economic development aspirations as well as its rule of law credentials," adding: "It is time for President Koroma's government to provide a clear explanation as to its motivation for depriving the state of a potentially huge amount of revenue. That is certainly not the best example of how to fund an agenda that seeks to foster prosperity for all."
According to the National Minerals Agency the "153.44 CTS diamond is one of the finest diamonds to be found in Sierra Leone in the last ten years. It is a D+ which is the topmost in terms of colour, and this colour could only be matched or surpassed by fancy diamonds such as blue or pink in terms of price".
(C) Politico 27/02/14
