TMAA recovers Sh527 billion in scores of foiled smuggling bids

By Nelson Kessy

The Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA)

The Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA) has declared a successful trick used to trap major mine companies seeking to evade taxes.

A system that involves a cross-section of players at the county’s gateways including airports, ports and borders has helped the Authority to trap a total of 527.8 billion in tax collection from minerals caught being exported through the backdoor.


TMAA communication officer Yisambi Shiwa said in an interview that the amount was basically collected from mining companies for the past three years.

In an exclusive talk with this paper, he said that the agency, collaborating with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the police and private citizens who reported such efforts helped so much in arresting suspects.

Eng. Shiwa affirmed that TMAA has initiated more strategies to ensure that mining companies contribute effectively to government revenue.

From January 2012 to March 2014 a total of Sh8.89 billion was paid by major and small mining companies following operations of the agency, he said, while it similarly managed to collect Sh 3.6 billion from inspection of construction and industrial minerals in the country, starting from January 2011.

  Since the auditing started in 2011, a total of Tsh2.25 billion has been collected in royalties, a huge amount compared to the lowly Sh 3m collected by the Eastern Zone of the Department of Minerals in previous years before TMAA came into operation.

Evasion of royalty has been cut since TMAA started checking transporters of cargo at airports in July 2012 and March 2014, recovering Sh15.72 billion after foiling 43 smuggling attempts at airports.

By January this year, after TMAA made 69 interventions in collaboration with other government authorities, has in the past 15 months foiled 69 incidents of minerals smuggling and recovered Sh9bn in royalties.

The TMAA manager responsible for minerals valuation, George Kaseza said that in 2012 alone, about 37 incidents were recorded in which TMAA managed to intercept minerals being smuggled out, recovering Sh7bn in royalties. Last year the agency recovered Sh2bn after foiling another 32 smuggling attempts, he added.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN