Prof Kabudi says Tanzanite One paid compensation following anomalies

Dodoma. The Minister for Constitution and Legal Affairs Prof Palamagamba Kabudi said on Friday that Tanzanite One mining has paid the first installment of compensation to the government with regard to some anomalies committed by the company in the past.

However, he did not reveal the amount and stressed that the government will never ever mention the amount in public.

The company signed agreement with the government in April this year after talks.

Tanzanite One, which claims to be the biggest miner of tanzanite - a blue-violet gemstone found only in Tanzania - acknowledged mistakes but did not disclose how much it would pay in compensation.

Prof Kabudi who was contributing to the winding-up of the minerals budget today told the National Assembly that the firm agreed to have evaded some taxes and therefore had to pay the compensations.

 “Tanzanite One has actually paid the first installment and we will not reveal the amount anymore. The money will go to the Treasury but we cannot mention the amount in public because we have learned from previous mistakes. When we announce, we invite even our old creditors to claim for their money,” said Prof Kabudi.

“The money will go to the Treasury main fund. We want money from the mining sector to finance strategic investments and not recurrent expenditure,” he said.