The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has published its report on Togo for the year 2021, but adopted in December 2023. Entitled “Anti-corruption EITI Togo”, the report reveals the risks of corruption associated with the Togolese extractive sector due to the flaws and largesse identified in the institutions responsible for controlling the sector, collecting revenues and granting operating licences.
“On the revenue collection link in the extractive industries value chain, the Court of Auditors reported that during the 2011 EITI report, three forms completed by the Togolese Revenue Office (Office togolais des Recettes – OTR) were not certified by the Court of Auditors because of an unresolved discrepancy in the figures between 3 reporting companies (Togo-Carrière, CEMAT and MM Mining) and the public entity”, the report reveals.
The report also shows that two communes (Aného and Lomé-Communes) did not comply with the obligation to declare revenue in the 2011 EITI report. Their declaration forms were therefore not certified by the Court of Audit.
The OTR also indicates that the quantities produced and sold were underestimated in order to minimise the tax payable. According to the EITI report, these problems with revenue collection may expose the extractive sector to the risk of corruption.
In addition, according to information from the National Financial Information Processing Unit (Cellule nationale de Traitement des Informations financières – CENTIF), there is a lack of a mechanism for identifying beneficial owners and politically exposed persons holding significant shares in companies. This may be a source of corruption, especially in the phosphate and limestone sectors.
The OTR also points to risks of remuneration of fictitious actors introduced into the extractive value chain with a view to inflating tax charges and lowering taxable income.
Information from the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register (Registre du commerce et du crédit mobilier – RCCM) reveals shortcomings in the operational register for identifying, declaring and keeping information on beneficial owners. It should be noted that under the Mining Code, the granting of a licence or the signing of a contract is conditional on the applicant company being registered with the RCCM.
In addition, the EITI report notes that up to the end of 2021, the General Directorate of Mines and Geology (Direction générale des mines et de la géologie – DGMG) has confirmed that only 4 mining agreements signed between the State and extractive companies have been published on the DGMG and Mining Governance and Development Programme (Programme de développement et de la gouvernance minière – PDGM) websites, while other companies are exploiting extractive resources through allocation decrees without drawing up a mining agreement. This is therefore in violation of Article 9 of Law No. 2014 – 009 dated 11 June 2014 on the Code of Transparency in the Management of Public Finances: “Contracts between the public administration and public or private companies, in particular companies exploiting natural resources and companies operating public service concessions are clear and made public. These principles apply both to the procedure for awarding the contract and to its content”.
The report was published as part of the EITI Togo anti-corruption project, which aims to prevent and combat corruption in the Togolese extractive sector by using the standard, data and recommendations in the EITI reports and by following the steps in the Natural Resource Governance Institute’s (NRGI) diagnostic tool for corruption in the extractive sector. The project was initiated by civil society members of the EITI Togo multi-stakeholder group, including the Association for the Self-Promotion of Grassroots Communities (Association pour l’Auto -promotion des Communautés de base – ACOMB).
Georges YOUL
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