By Thomas Dixon
In a desperate attempt to capture the state through a self-styled Sierra Leone Mining Development and Management Corporation, Sierra Leone Finance Minister Sheku Ahmed Fantamahadi Basngura has in a Press Conference referred to the mining companies operating in Sierra Leone as not the Class-A Companies.
The Minister explained that they have procured the geophysical survey from the National Mineral Agency for $100,000 for which they could have asked for waiver and that they have subjected it to analytics, noting that the advice they have gotten is adequate enough for the government to make a decision.
He explained that they have propagated the Mineral Wealth Fund to the South Koreans, Chinese and Kuwaitis
He said that they have put their Mineral Assets into a bulk portfolio, pointing out that they are going for Tonkolili North to start and that they will enter into a joint partnership with China Railway.
“The fund will pay full taxes and when we mine, this government gets greater shares,” he said.
He said that the Nation has been hoodwinked too much by Foreign Direct Investment and that the entity will subject to all international standards
Despite concerns that such is a scammed and way to capture the state by a Russian Igor Sielberud and others, the Minister of Finance insisted that they are not moving backward.
