Barrick responds to subsidiary's US$1.2M annual payments

The Globe and Mail reported that Acacia, Barrick's former subsidiary, was paying as much as US$1.2 million annually to dozens of civil servants who are part of the Tanzanian national law-enforcement task force (NTF). Company emails and memos show internal concerns over the payments violating the company's anti-corruption policies.

The Globe and Mail article obtained the emails and memos after they were cited in a legal case in London Court. In the court case, Tanzanian claimants seek damages for alleged abuse by police and security guards leading to deaths or injuries in the area of Barrick's North Mara gold mine between 2014 and 2019.

Internal concerns

In the emails and memos, Acacia executives express worries about the payments to the task force, an official law enforcement agency of Tanzania's government, no longer complying with anti-corruption policies. According to the emails, the payments place the company "under huge reputational risk", and there was a lack of transparency about the activities of taskforce members.

"Payments to the so-called armed robbery unit, and the so-called underground unit, should - from a purely anti-corruption compliance perspective - be suspended immediately," one email in September 2015 from Acacia's then chief compliance officer Nick Rowell reads.

According to an internal memo from February 2015, the $1.2 million includes per diems, car hire, and fuel in kind for approximately 30 NTF members - which, according to the emails, were as many as 60 officials.

The memo said that Acacia risks "potential allegations of maintaining influence over public servants through per-diem and in-kind payments" and "potential liability for the actions of NTF personnel engaged in operations in support of Acacia's requests". Additionally, it said that the MoU with the task force is "informal, insufficiently comprehensive, and would probably not withstand close external scrutiny".

At the time, Barrick owned 63.9% of Acacia and took over the company in 2019 for $1.2 billion.

Barrick's response

Barrick did not respond to questions from The Globe and Mail about the internal emails and memos but published an official response to the article on Thursday, saying that the NTF is "not a party to the UK proceedings nor is it alleged to have been involved in any of the incidents which took place at the North Mara Mine".

Barrick stated that the NFT is an official law enforcement agency responsible for protecting the interests of critical national and private sector infrastructure.

"As a major contributor to the local economy, and similarly to other private sector organisations in developing countries, Acacia Mining Plc (the predecessor company to Barrick TZ Limited), entered into arrangements with the NTF in relation to its operations in Tanzania," Barrick said.

"These included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2014."

Barrick added: "This arrangement was entirely bona fide. All payments made under the arrangement were proper and supported the provision of important policing services which helped to prevent serious crime. Acacia, or indeed any Barrick entity, has never exercised control or direction over the NTF, the Tanzanian police or over any branch or agency of the Tanzania police."

Acacia decided to terminate the MoU and the payments in October 2015, and payments ceased from November 2015.

"This decision did not reflect any breach of any applicable law," Barrick said.