Contrary to previous news, the gold load belonging to Morocco’s mining company Managem was transported with due administrative export authorization.
Rabat – A Sudanese official has denied reports that the shipment of gold belonging to Managem, Morocco’s leading mining company in a number of sub-Saharan countries, was unauthorized.
After the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces intercepted a Moroccan aircraft with an 84-kilogram haul of gold ingots belonging to Managem for an allegedly invalid license, the director of the mining chamber of the Sudanese chamber of commerce denied the rumors surrounding the incident.
In a statement to the Sudanese press, Ibrahim Abou Bakr, the director of the Sudanese chamber of commerce, expressed surprise at the incident, saying “all administrative export procedures were appropriate.”
Abou Bakr added that the company had a “mining concession like all other companies” and that the aircraft used for shipping the load of gold belonged to another company, which rented it to Managem.”
Managem has been licensed since 2008 to operate in two key Sudanese sites, one of them sitting in the Nile river in the south.
Read also: Moroccan Aircraft Intercepted in Sudan with 84 Kg of Gold On Board
News sources reported that the aircraft was bound for the Sudanese capital Khartoum passing by the region of Qabqa, west of the River Province of the Nile.”
Bakr also noted that the quantity of gold mentioned in news reports was incorrect. He confirmed the load was 96 kilograms, instead of 241 kilograms as widely reported.
In earlier reports, it was indicated that only 93 kilograms of the alleged 241 kilograms were licenced. According to Abou Bakr, however, the total load (96 Kg) was on board Managem’s plane was licensed.
