The appeal in the ammonium nitrate case is due to be heard on 28 August 2023. At the request of the defendant, Société Générale de Transit (SOGETRA), the trial has been adjourned to 25 September 2023 by the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal. This trial concerns a case in which customs service is claiming customs duties and fines.
The long-awaited appeal did not finally take place on 28 August 2023. The reason, according to SOGETRA’s lawyers, was that the State’s lawyers sent them documents late, i.e. on Friday 25 August 2023. The lawyers, who felt that they had not had sufficient time to consult the documents, requested that the trial be adjourned. The court therefore decided to adjourn to 25 September 2023. This is the second time that the appeal has been postponed, following the one on 26 June 2023. The appeal concerns the verdict handed down on 16 November 2021 by the Criminal Division of the Economic and Financial Division of the High Court of Ouagadougou. This trial has clearly not finished writing its final chapter in the ammonium nitrate import case.
Burkina Faso customs service has accused African Limited (AEL), now African Explosives and Chemical Industry (AECI), Bulk Mining Explosives (BME) Sarl and Société Générale de Transit (SOGETRA) Sarl of fraud in importing ammonium nitrate into Burkina Faso. This product is used in the manufacture of explosives used by mining companies. Instead of declaring ammonium nitrate on import, these companies declared fertiliser. However, the two products do not have the same tariffs.
Fertiliser is subject to light taxation, unlike ammonium nitrate. As the companies contested the charges brought against them by customs, the case was referred to the courts for a ruling. On 16 November 2021, the court found the forwarding agent SOGETRA guilty of importing without declaration. BME and AEL were found guilty of complicity in undeclared imports. The court ordered SOGETRA to pay 2.004 billion FCFA, BME – 351.780 million FCFA and AEL – 1.653 billion FCFA. The court also ordered AEL, BME and SOGETRA to pay the State 3 million FCFA in costs incurred. Customs is contesting this decision. It believes that the court should have imposed fines in addition to customs duties, as provided for in the Customs Code. Customs has appealed the court’s decision. The first hearing in the appeal was scheduled for 26 June 2023, but the case was adjourned until 28 August 2023. It was finally adjourned to 25 September 2023.
But something happened before the call was scheduled. In a press release, the then Minister of Finance, Abel Somé, and the manager of AECI Burkina, Francis Kasongo, stated: “The State of Burkina Faso, on the one hand, and the companies AECI Mauritius Ltd and AECI Burkina SUARL, on the other, have decided to put a definitive and irrevocable end to the dispute between them concerning the tariff heading applicable to ammonium nitrate, a raw material used by the latter in the manufacture of explosives for civil use in the mining sector. As a result, each of the parties agrees to abandon the proceedings it has initiated and accepts the mutual withdrawal. As part of this amicable settlement, the Companies agree to pay the State of Burkina Faso the total sum of 800 million FCFA”.
This new element will surely be added to the file by AECI. The hearing on 25 September 2023 is eagerly awaited.
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