A recording demonstrates illicit cigarette trade practices between Burkina Faso and Mali

The recording of a meeting between an intermediary for Apollinaire Compaoré, a cigarette magnate in Burkina Faso, and the head of the state tobacco company in Mali confirms the practices of corruption and illicit cigarette trade between these two countries.

The Senegalese Safy Mokoko Sow, declared that she had been carrying out activities, in her words, for around thirty years with Apollinaire Compaoré, one of the main tobacco players in Burkina Faso, of “facilitating” the “transit of cigarettes”. by other African countries.

During the month of August 2017, Safy Mokoko Sow met with Issouf Traoré, the general director of the Malian Tobacco and Match Company (Sonatam), and recorded their conversation in order to report back to Mr. Compaoré. This recording was recovered by journalists from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP); they verified with a computer security expert that the recording had not been altered and could therefore be considered authentic.[1].

Corruption attempt to stop cigarette seizures

During this 90-minute interview, Safy Mokoko Sow hoped to get Issouf Traoré to use his influence to intervene with customs in order to stop the seizures of illicit convoys of American Legend brand cigarettes in northern Mali. . She offered Mr. Traoré the sum of 100 million CFA francs (i.e. 150,000 euros) in order to gain his support, without him accepting this proposal. Mr. Traoré did not respond to Ms. Mokoko Sow's requests, arguing that this trafficking finances terrorist groups in Mali.

Faced with the insistence of Ms. Mokoko Sow, Mr. Traoré in return questioned her to find out if these American Legend cigarettes were produced in Greece and if their destination was Algeria. Failing to answer clearly, Ms. Mokoko Sow then boasted of the networks she was able to weave in Africa and mentioned her intervention to unblock a cargo of cigarettes placed under sequestration in the port of Lomé (Togo). Understanding that she would get nothing from Mr. Traoré, Ms. Mokoko Sow concluded that she would refer the matter to Mr. Compaoré.

OCCRP journalists confirmed that seven containers of American Legend cigarettes belonging to the company SOBUREX, owned by Apollinaire Compaoré, had indeed been consigned to the port of Lomé in October 2016, for several months, at a period corresponding to that mentioned by Mrs. Mokoko Sow. Togolese customs had lifted the blockade of the containers, without providing any real explanations. The Greek company Karelia, manufacturer of American Legend cigarettes and distributor in Europe for Philip Morris International (PMI), for its part declared to OCCRP that it had stopped all activity with Mr. Compaoré for several years.

Apollinaire Compaoré's SOBUREX suspected of smuggling

OCCRP was also able to obtain an unpublished report from ADIT, a French strategic intelligence firm that received funding from PMI Impact. This report established that Mr. Compaoré's company SOBUREX was allegedly involved in the smuggling of billions of cigarettes, at the rate of one billion every four or five months, and that these illicit activities financed terrorist groups. ADIT estimated that each convoy brought Mr. Compaoré between 7 and 18 million euros in profit by avoiding taxes. Mr. Compaoré denied in Le Monde an OCCRP report on this subject[2]. PMI, of which Mr. Compaoré is a distributor, for its part referred to a previous declaration denying any knowledge of trafficking to neighboring countries of its products intended for Burkina Faso.

The international ramifications of Mr. Compaoré's activities

Owner of numerous companies in the most varied sectors and president of the National Council of Burkinabe Employers (CNPB), Apollinaire Compaoré is one of the richest men in Burkina Faso.[3]. It is also notoriously known for its illicit cigarette trade activities in several African countries. Cigarettes transiting through Mali would be intended to supply the parallel market in North Africa, as well as in Europe. Sonatam, for its part, is the subject of a partnership between British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, two tobacco multinationals which have also been cited in cases of smuggling and financing of terrorist groups in Mali, while denouncing those of their competitor PMI.

Keywords: Burkina Faso, Mali, SOBUREX, Apollinaire Compaoré, Sonatam, Issouf Traoré, PMI, BAT, Imperial Brands, illicit trade, ADIT.

M.F.

[1] O'Brien J, Alleged Associate of Burkinabè Cigarette Tycoon Apollinaire Compaoré Caught on Tape Attempting to Bribe Malian Official, OCCRP, published May 16, 2023, accessed May 17, 2023.

[2] In Burkina, the president of the employers' association denies any "trafficking" with the jihadists, Le Monde, published on March 23, 2021, consulted on May 17, 2023.

[3] Cigarette trafficking in the Sahel: what the UN really says about Apollinaire Compaoré, Jeune Afrique, published September 1, 2021, accessed May 17, 2023.