Major Tobacco Companies Accused of $88 Billion Tax Evasion Scheme in Africa

The report entitled "Tobacco Industry and Illicit Financial Flows in Africa", carried out and presented by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center in collaboration with Tax Justice Network Africa at an event last Wednesday, highlights the extent of the tobacco industry’s involvement in tax evasion and fraud in Africa. These practices have cost the continent $88.6 billion. The report provides information on the profile of the main tobacco companies, their subsidiaries, their domicile and revenue trends between 2010 and 2021 in South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Egypt and Morocco, reports Punchng.

Due to the scale of tax evasion by cigarette manufacturers, the executive director of CISLAC (Civil society legislative advocacy center), Auwal Rafsanjani, advocates "for the reduction of illicit financial flows, tax evasion, money laundering, tax fraud by tobacco companies which directly affects our economy and affects the development of the African network of fiscal justice in Africa".