‘Profit shift played role’ in Marikana
PLATINUM producer Lonmin came under renewed attack by Dick Forslund from the Alternative Information and Development Centre on Tuesday for its use of offshore entities to shift hundreds of millions of rand around the group.
Using data presented at the Farlam commission of inquiry, Mr Forslund issued a report into the financial dealings within Lonmin as part of an investigation into the events that led to the killing of 34 protesters near its Marikana operations in 2012.
The allegations do not differ substantially from those Mr Forslund made last year, but he did back up his contention that Lonmin was shifting profits out of SA via a series of “daughter companies” and that this could have played a role in the unrest following wage demands by Lonmin rock-drill operators.
“The affordability of wage demands and social obligations under the Mining Charter was about a choice of what to afford and Lonmin chose not to afford these obligations,” he said.
Lonmin said on Tuesday the report contained “unfounded and false allegations”. It had paid taxes fully in the jurisdictions it operated in.
Mr Forslund urged changes to the regulatory environment to make financial reports of subsidiaries more readily available to the public to prevent transfer pricing and profit shifting.
