Mining manager held in Tanzania

ONE of Acacia Mining’s senior managers in Tanzania has been charged by the country’s anticorruption agency.

The struggling gold miner said the employee, who is a Tanzanian, has been arrested and charged over alleged tax evasion, forgery and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts, but due to rules about offences under Tanzania’s anti-money laundering act, he cannot be released on bail.

Thirty-nine charges were brought by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau against three of Acacia’s subsidiaries and a current and a former employee last week.

Acacia has been unable to export gold concentrate from Tanzania since a government ban in March. In July, the government slapped the London-listed miner with a bill of around £146bn for unpaid taxes.

And earlier this year Acacia fell out of the FTSE 250 as Tanzania’s crackdown took its toll.