Tanzania puts former mining minister behind bars over gold deal

Two former Tanzanian ministers were sentenced to three years in jail on Monday, after found guilty of issuing illegal tax exemptions to a gold audit firm, which cost the government millions of dollars in lost revenues.

The convictions of ex-Finance Minister Basil Mramba and former Energy and Minerals Minister Daniel Yona are two of the most recent and high-profile cases in Tanzania’s anti-corruption drive, reports Reuters.

The firm that received the exemptions was a subsidiary of UK-based Alex Stewart International.

The East African nation is Africa’s fourth-biggest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali.

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