During the period 2021-2022, actions to combat gold fraud resulted in the recovery of a cumulative amount of 1.586 billion FCFA in fines generated by the seizure of 35.347 kg of gold. This is the substance of the communication made by the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Simon Pierre Boussim, to the Council of Ministers on 24 May 2023. The figures presented were taken from the Rapport 2021-2022 sur l’état de la fraude en matière de commercialisation de l’or et des autres substances précieuses. “The Report 2021-2022 on the state of fraud in the marketing of gold and other precious substances reveals that a large quantity of Burkina Faso’s gold is subject to fraud each year, generating significant illicit financial flows. The acts identified by the National Gold Anti-Fraud Brigade (Brigade nationale anti-fraude de l’or, BNAF) in 2021 and 2022 include the possession, holding and transport of gold without authorisation or a valid artisan’s or buyer’s card, and the absence and/or failure to keep up-to-date regulatory registers, the use of non-compliant weighing equipment or equipment not certified by the quality and metrology services or any other authorised administrative body, and the use of fraudulent manoeuvres to pass off other mineral substances as gold”, according to the minutes of the Council of Ministers.
The report describes large-scale fraud involving gold from artisanal mining, involving private gold buying and selling outlets and holders of artisanal mining authorisations and semi-mechanised mining permits. The main features of this fraud are the failure to declare the countries of destination to Burkina Faso and the failure to declare the gold exported to the countries of destination. Large quantities of artisanal gold are smuggled every year to neighbouring countries.
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