Cyril Ramaphosa's Lonmin tax-dodge headache
Evidence before the Marikana commission that Lonmin moved millions in platinum revenue from South Africa to tax-free Bermuda is likely to prove embarrassing for…Cyril Ramaphosa…[He]…was a Lonmin director…[and] came out swinging last month against corporate tax evaders, which he said have committed a crime against “ordinary” South Africans.…This week the Farlam commission of inquiry…heard that, for many years, Lonmin’s South African mines have paid “sales commissions”, recently averaging more than R200-million a year, to a company it owned in Bermuda. Lonmin…[said] it only put a stop to this practice in 2012, with a decision it says it backdated to 2008…Companies can legally avoid taxes by using aggressive tax planning and offshore structures, but this has become a nightmare for tax collectors…[ Dick Forslund from the Alternative Information and Development Centre] said “A large part of this money should have been used for wages, and social and labour [spending]…”…[Also refers to Appleby Services, Incwala Resources, Shanduka Group, Western Metal Sales]