News

According to local press reports, on 7 December 2024, the Managing Director of Guinea’s Customs Services, Mousssa Camara, his deputy Macky Diallo, and nine other people including accountants and freight forwarders, were arrested for the alleged embezzlement of between 700 billion and 800 billion Guinean Francs (76.7 to 87.52 million Euros).

Some sources indicate that the different parties conspired to by-pass the automated Customs duty payment system, SYDONIA, while others claim that they took advantage of a system failure.

The government has not made any official announcements about the arrests, but there are fears that the resulting disruptions and uncertainty may lead to additional delays for vessels in Guinea’s ports.

In Kamsar, vessels carrying out commercial operations with the Guinea Alumina Corporation GAC have already been experiencing delays since October due to a government dispute with GAC (https://www.budd-pni.com/guinea-ban-on-gac-bauxite-exports/).

Anxiety is running high in Guinea and, according to our local office, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain information from the key players in the ports.

Information provided by Budd Guinea (budd.guinee-conakry@budd-pni.com)