Malawi’s executive is difficult the astonishing sum of $309bn (£245bn) in unpaid taxes and royalties from a US-based gemstone corporate for rubies exported from the southern African condition over the ultimate 10 years, its attorney-general has informed the BBC.

Columbia Gem Area, a family-owned industry which says that it upholds truthful industry practices, brushed aside the declare as “baseless and defamatory”.

The federal government may be difficult $4bn from French fuel vast TotalEnergies in unpaid earnings from an oil bank trade in, and $9.5m from Turkish tobacco company Famous person Agritech, stated Legal professional Common Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda.

TotalEnergies declined to remark past Famous person Agritech denied owing any cash.

The quantity being claimed from the 3 multinationals is just about 300 instances Malawi’s nationwide debt of round $1.2bn, and 22 instances its Rude Home Product (GDP) of $14bn.

Malawi used to be pressured to pluck a $174m bailout from the World Financial Investmrent (IMF) ultimate moment later working into monetary hassle.

Chatting with the BBC Center of attention on Africa podcast, Nyirenda stated that Columbia Gem Area have been under-reporting the worth of rubies it had exported from Malawi.

He added that “some of the evidence that we’ll be using comes from Columbia Gem House itself, such as declarations they have made in the US, and what they have reported on their website, which they have now deleted”.

“The amount is not just [for] one year, it goes over 10 years back. It also includes the interest,” Nyirenda stated.

Columbia Gem Area stated that the federal government’s sums don’t upload up.

The $309bn declare “implies Malawi has somehow produced and exported trillions of dollars’ worth of coloured gemstones”, the company stated in a commentary.

“They haven’t done this by any stretch of the imagination,” it added.

Columbia Gem Area stated it does no longer perform in Malawi, however buys its gem stones from Nyala Mines, a Malawian-owned corporate during which the federal government has a ten% stake.

Alternatively, Nyirenda informed the BBC that as a minority shareholder, the federal government used to be no longer concerned within the day by day control of the corporate, and “the name of Nyala Mines had been changed to disguise its ownership”.

An effort by means of the United States embassy in Malawi to decide the dispute fell via when the legal professional total failed to wait a web based assembly, which he put all the way down to “technical challenges”.

Mining contributes only one% to Malawi’s GDP, despite the fact that the federal government has introduced plans to scale this up within the then few years.

Malawian economist Knowledge Mgomezulu stated the federal government is also making the claims now on account of its monetary difficulties.

“They’re looking at all potential sources of income, but if you look at the claim versus the size of the economy, it’s just way too much,” he informed the BBC.

The dispute with TotalEnergies is rooted in a trade in Malawi entered with it in 2001, in step with Nyirenda.

The French multinational used to be to handover gasoline to Malawi and used to be to get tax incentives in go back, he stated.

The earnings from the association have been to had been shared similarly however TotalEnergies “only paid for two years and stopped paying in 2006”, Nyirenda alleged.

The federal government has since taken the corporate to court docket in Malawi, and Nyirenda stated the federal government desires it to pay $4bn to decide the subject.

As for the dispute with Famous person Agritech World, the federal government accuses it of shopping for 3 million tonnes of tobacco importance $15m from Malawi via 3 subsidiaries – registered in Mauritius, Hong Kong, and South Africa – in 2013, however failing to pay for it.

Malawi Leaf Corporate, the state-owned undertaking that bought the tobacco, took prison motion in Hong Kong and gained the case, Nyirenda stated.

“Over $9.5m was proven in a Hong Kong court,” he stated, including that Malawi sought after Famous person Agritech World to pay the volume.

He additional alleged that the Hong Kong subsidiary of Famous person Agritech World used to be established “for the sole purpose of obtaining the tobacco from Malawi”.

In reaction, Famous person Agritech World informed the BBC that it bought tobacco importance $5m – no longer $15m as Malawi claims.

“This is completely wrong and is representative of the type of problems businesses face in dealing in Africa,” stated the corporate’s boss, Iqbal Lambat.

Mr Lambat additional claimed that the tobacco shipped used to be substandard.

“This transaction experienced difficulties as the tobaccos were not one uniform grade but a combination of leftover scrappy tobaccos,” he stated.

Malawi isn’t the one African nation this is going later cash they are saying multinational firms owe them.

Ultimate occasion Mali’s army junta issued a global arrest warrant for Canadian mining company Barrick Gold’s prominent government officer, alleging the corporate owes the West African condition $500m.

Barrick has replied by means of threatening to droop operations in Mali, including that “local operating conditions have deteriorated significantly with employees imprisoned without cause and gold shipments blocked”.

And in November the junta exempted the pinnacle and two staff of an Australian mining corporate, Resolute Mining, later a $160m tax dispute used to be settled.

The company paid part the cash prematurely, with a pledge to pay the alternative part within the coming months.

For extra tales like this, take a look at the BBC Center of attention on Africa podcast. It’s to be had on BBC Sounds, alternative streaming platforms.