Mali: Arrest warrant issued for Canadian mining company director on money laundering charges
The Malian justice has issued an arrest warrant against Mark Bristow, CEO of the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, which dominates the mining sector in Mali, on charges of money laundering.
The financial authorities are demanding payment of dividends due to the state from the Lulu Gonkoto gold mining group, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
In addition to Marc Bristow, justice also issued an arrest warrant against Abbas Coulibaly, CEO of the “Lulu Goncouto” group, which has two companies in which Barrick Gold owns 80%, while the Malian state owns the remaining share.
Mark Bristow was expected to arrive in Mali last October, before he backed out of travelling to the country for fear of arrest, according to French media.
Disagreements between the Canadian company and the transitional authorities in Mali began to appear in public a few months ago, and are mainly related to the amount of profits that Bamako derives from its gold resources.
The Canadian company announced late last November that the financial authorities had charged 4 of its employees and placed them in pretrial detention pending the start of their trial, confirming that it had appealed those charges without specifying them.
The employees were arrested in September for undisclosed reasons and released days later, with Barrick Gold reporting at the time that a comprehensive resolution had been reached to the disputes with Mali.
However, the Malian Ministries of Mining and Economy later accused the company of failing to meet its obligations, and announced that they had decided to hold it liable for all consequences, and referred to serious risks to the group’s future in Mali.
