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Industry giant British American Tobacco (BAT) has made payments to dozens of people and carried out “potentially illegal surveillance” to tighten its grip on the African market, according to two reports released today, Tuesday September 14, by the watchdogs of the tobacco industry. .
Described by researchers as “powerful” and “explosive,” the two reports, published by STOP – a global tobacco industry watchdog in partnership with the University of Bath Tobacco Control Research Group – monitor the analysis of denunciation documents and court files.
The researchers found that in order to maintain BAT’s tobacco monopoly in South Africa, BAT and a private entrepreneur may have repeatedly crossed the line of legality to undermine competitors and disrupt operations.
It included the use of a network of BAT monitoring and informants in South Africa.
Reports claim that BAT appears to operate “as if it were above the law,” according to the South Africa report.
Documents assembled for the report suggest that in South Africa BAT hired private contractors, under the guise of anti-smuggling efforts, to carry out military-style surveillance and operations to disrupt its competitors.
“The evidence appears to link BAT to hand-delivered cash, cars, per diems and campaign donations to dozens of politicians, government officials, journalists as well as people working at competing companies,” he said. declared the report.
Pay to push cigarettes to Africans
These payments “may have helped” to influence health policies in key African countries as well.
“We spent years analyzing payments, documents and came to the conclusion that 226 payments totaling $ 66,000 were made by the company between 2008 and 2013,” says Andy Rowell, senior researcher at Tobacco Control Research Group of the University of Bath. at a press conference. He requested that the payments be further examined.
All of this culminates in a push to sell cigarettes to Africans – products known to cause tobacco-related disease, death and economic damage – across the region.
The second report is based on six years of work and describes how the company has made hundreds of payments in various forms. Both reports came out after reviewing tens of thousands of leaked documents.
Whistleblower documents related to BAT’s work in East and Central Africa revealed evidence of questionable payments made in Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The researchers identified 236 payments made between 2008 and 2013 for a total of US $ 601,502 that were allegedly used to try to influence policy and sabotage competitors.
“And in almost 25 years of working in the tobacco industry – I must have read over a million documents – and for me, these are the most powerful. These are the most explosive and they are the ones that demand responses from BAT and regulators, ”Rowell said at the press conference.
Contribute to deaths across the continent
Tobacco addiction is increasing in Africa despite efforts to eradicate it, as the industry sees the continent as the future of its market, given its large population of young people, said Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, vice-president. Deputy President of Sefako Makgatho University of Health Sciences. in Pretoria.
“We all know that the potential of the industry to make a profit is that Africa will pay the price,” Ayo-Yusuf said at the press conference, adding that the industry is trying to break the smoking stigma in Africa.
“Companies like BAT with their major shareholders in Britain and the United States will take the proceeds of the profits while the debts and funerals, tears and the aftermath of death and disability will remain on the African continent,” adds he does.
Cross-border corruption
While the corruption allegations are not new, what is most explosive about the news is the scale of their actions, says Rachel Kitonyo Devotsu, regional coordinator for Africa at the McCabe Center for Law and Law. Cancer in Melbourne, Australia.
“It just shows that BAT is willing to work across borders and in different areas of tobacco control policy to achieve its agenda,” Devotsu told RFI after the briefing, saying this also added to interference with revenue and collection of states.
“When trying to control the illicit trade in tobacco products and the security concerns associated with contraband and related transnational crimes, regulators need to take action,” she adds.
She says that in light of the revelations, tobacco control advocates and the media must continue to present the allegations so that BAT’s potentially illegal activities are not swept under the rug.
“The UK government needs to ensure it has assessed all available evidence, including speaking to government officials, whistleblowers and law enforcement agencies in the African countries mentioned in the reports before. to definitively conclude that there is not enough evidence to hold BAT accountable, ”Devotsu said.
“Local law enforcement agencies in the countries mentioned in the reports should seek help from the UK government to investigate and prosecute locally,” she adds.
The reports follow a pending court case in London’s High Court against BAT and Imperial Brands over allegations of exploitation of Malawian farmers and their children because of their pursuit of profit.
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