ConCourt told of miner’s deals with Russian oligarch

The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has told the Constitutional Court that ANC donor United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) engaged in opaque transactions to hide the ultimate beneficiary of its proceeds, an entity owned and controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. A Business Day report says in legal papers filed with the court, SARS said UMK entered into four transactions designed to mask its interrelated transactions with Renova Manganese Investments. SARS – which is pursuing $20.1m it says it is owed by UMK – told the court the Northern Cape-based manganese miner engaged in several transactions that were presented as being at arm’s length when in fact they were not. It said UMK went out of its way to hide its related transactions with Vekselberg-related entities. UMK paid $20.1m into the ANC’s coffers in the past two years, including $861 000 towards its December elective national conference, according to declarations made to the IEC. In 2017, SARS alerted UMK that it would conduct a transfer pricing audit in respect of the 2011, 2012 and 2013 income tax years of assessment. The scope of the audit was transactions between it and its ‘offshore connected parties’.

Full Business Day report