Smoke and mirrors: Key tobacco players battle it out over commission of inquiry Updated
Nokukhanya N Mntambo
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The gloves are off for key players in the tobacco industry as the battle for the largest share of the market heats up.
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The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) has accused its competitors of dodging accountability over serious allegations levelled against them.
This comes after British American Tobacco SA (BATSA) was implicated in a damning report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
The report found that the multinational smuggled billions of cigarettes through Mali to the western and north-central African regions.
But on Monday BATSA responded by pointing fingers right back at FITA and SATO.
In a statement, FITA said it would welcome an inquiry, adding that this was likely the best mechanism to find the real traders of illegal cigarettes. The tobacco giant said cigarette brands of FITA and SATO members, including Remington Gold, were, by far, the most likely to be found on sale illegally in the country , since the lockdown paved a way for criminal cartels to ruthlessly exploit the country’s tobacco sales ban. The FITA/SATO coalition say they want an investigation. So, let’s have one, said BATSA General Manager Johnny Moloto in a statement.
British American Tobacco SA (BATSA) says it is concerned about an increase in armed robberies of its products and the rise of organised crime in the illicit trade of cigarettes.