Fez - The problems of oil company SAMIR seem endless. Following a scandal over unpaid taxes, now a high-ranking Moroccan official has accused the CEO of the company, Saudi billionaire Mohamed Houssein El Amoudi, of smuggling fuel outside the country without paying taxes to the Moroccan state.
Acording to Moroccan news website Hespress, the official, who asked not to be named, claimed that SAMIR smuggles one billion tons of fuel annually without transferring the hard currency to Morocco. The Moroccan official has raised the question of what happens to the money raised by the sale of this fuel.
"SAMIR’s accounts are not transparent, and we have noticed a lot of excesses," he said. "The export of this fuel is highly irresponsible."
SAMIR did not comment on the allegations despite attempts by Hespress to contact the company.
Abdelkader Aamara, the Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mining, Water and the Environment said last week that the Ministers of Interior, Budget and Mines had reminded El Amoudi of the illegal practices which led to the company’s financial crisis, referring to the fact that Amoudi had been asked to pay all SAMIR’s outstanding debts to the Moroccan state. .
El Amoudi has so far taken no steps to solve the financial crisis afflicting the refinery. He has shown no willingness to pay taxes owed by the company on fuel consumption and VAT, which exceed MAD13 billion, in addition to MAD 24 billion in outstanding loan repayments.
Jamal Ba-Amer, General Manager of the company, stopped production without warning at the refinery, putting Moroccan fuel supplies in jeopardy and forcing the Moroccan government to act to secure sufficient fuel storage for the country.
Edited by Faith Barker
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