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The Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) scandal has claimed another victim with the resignation of energy and minerals minister Sospeter Muhongo, the third cabinet minister to go since the latest round of allegations emerged late last year. In December, attorney-general Frederick Werema resigned and President Jakaya Kikwete sacked lands minister Anna Tibaijuka for accepting almost $1m from an IPTL shareholder.In late November, a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by outspoken MP Zitto Kabwe called for Muhongo and prime minister Mizengo Pinda to resign.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has widened its remit from a focus on war crimes to include land grabs and environmental destruction. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on 14 September published a policy paper setting out how the Office of the Prosecutor exercises its discretion in the selection and prioritisation of cases. The Rome Statute establishing the ICC stated four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, and states that its aim is to combat impunity and prevent the recurrence of violence, in conjunction with national jurisdictions.

Dubai’s DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem met President Macky Sall on 6 June to discuss the company’s Dakar port project. A DP World statement said that Sall had assured the chairman that DP World’s investment was “welcomed and protected”. DP World Dakar obtained a 25-year concession in 2010 to operate container terminals at Dakar port and invest in their modernisation.

The US Treasury Department said on 17 April its sanctions office had targeted a Zimbabwean government official, an Angolan businessman, a Singaporean lawyer and a Zimbabwe-based entity for their role in undermining Zimbabwe’s democracy and/or facilitating public corruption. The sanctions freeze their US assets and bar Americans from dealing with them. Those targeted included registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede, and Hong Kong businessman Sam Pa, described by the treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) as “a well-known supporter of the Mugabe regime”.

State oil company PetroSA has come under scrutiny over corruption allegations, forcing the resignation of chairman Benny Mokaba and an official investigation ordered by energy minister Elizabeth Dipuo Peters. The Central Energy Fund, PetroSA’s parent, said: “A preliminary report issued by the investigating team last month unearthed several instances of inappropriate executive override of internal control systems at PetroSA. The report also made serious allegations against certain senior officials.”

Bids submitted in September 2016 by Spanish-led and Chinese groups to build the Inga 3 hydropower dam have yet to be opened, well-placed sources in Kinshasa told African Energy. There is speculation that the government might support moves for the two consortia to work together, as has been suggested by Agence pour le Développement et la Promotion de Grand Inga head Bruno Kapandji Kalala, the official charged by President Joseph Kabila Kabange to deliver the project

As Sonatrach tackles the impact of Covid-19 and slumping oil prices, chairman and chief executive (PDG) Toufik Hakkar on 30 March continued his reorganisation of senior managers, with the appointment of eight new vice-presidents. Critics have questioned the credentials of several of the newVPs, pointing out that the moves could give Hakkar greater control over key departments. Few of the new VPs have a high profile. Only one VP, Fethi Arabi, maintains his old post; the rest have been promoted. Sonatrach’s VPs are now as follows:

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced that bidding documents should be available by end-March for work supported by a $420,000 Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa grant for Jumeme Rural Power Supply, which plans to develop off-grid solar hybrid systems in at least 16 villages in north-western Tanzania. Jumeme is a joint venture between Germany’s Inensus, Austria’s TerraProjects and St Augustine University in Mwanza.

International law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is opening an affiliated office in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, operating under the name Orrick RCI. Orrick RCI will be staffed full time by Karamoko Fadiga and Sydney Domoraud-Operi, working with the firm’s 50-lawyer Africa practice, headed by Pascal Agboyibor. This team recently added two new project finance partners: Cameroon-born Jean-Jacques Essombè, who joined from Heenan Blaikie in Paris, and Colin Graham, who joined from Hogan Lovells in London. Orrick is legal adviser to Democratic Republic of Congo for the Inga development .

Soco International has postponed a planned well on the Mer Profonde Sud (MPS) Block until 2016. Soco completed a farm-in to the block in 2014, taking 60%, while Sweden’s PA Resources retained 25% and Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo 15%. The Swedish company had been keen to secure a new partner after Murphy Oil pulled out in 2012, arguing that the rest of the block had further exploration potential in a different structural setting and play from the other wells already drilled on the block, targeting reservoirs similar to those producing from fields in Congo and in Angola.

Hyperdynamics said on 30 September the US Department of Justice had issued a subpoena asking it to produce documents relating to its business in Guinea. “The company understands that the DoJ is investigating whether Hyperdynamics’ activities in obtaining and retaining the concession rights and its relationships with charitable organisations potentially violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or US anti-money laundering statutes,” Hyperdynamics said. Guinea’s resource contracts have been under scrutiny since President Alpha Condé took office in December 2011, and US investigators are taking the lead in another high-profile case.

The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) declared Sierra Leone EITI compliant on 26 April. EITI compliance means that the country must regularly publish the government’s revenues from its natural resources, and Sierra Leone is required to produce its 2012 EITI report by the end of this year. “I hope this will lead to a process of reform that brings real benefits to the people of Sierra Leone,” said EITI board chair Clare Short. “EITI compliance does not mean that the country’s natural resources are managed in a fully transparent manner, but it is a step on the way and means that citizens can see what revenues the country gets from these resources.”

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery released its Phase 3 report on Portugal in late June. The report evaluates and makes recommendations on Portugal’s implementation of various anti-corruption laws. The group said it was “seriously concerned that Portugal’s enforcement of the foreign bribery offence has been extremely low”. Despite Portugal’s strong economic links to countries plagued by severe corruption, only 15 foreign bribery allegations have surfaced since 2001. These allegations have not resulted in a single prosecution to date and several investigations were closed prematurely. “Portuguese authorities did not proactively investigate or seek the co-operation of foreign authorities in several cases,” the group said.

Transparency campaigners have condemned President Donald Trump’s use of the Congressional Review Act to repeal a rule obliging energy and mining companies to disclose payments they make abroad (AE 339/18). Signing his first piece of legislation, Trump repealed the Cardin-Lugar rule, part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. ExxonMobil and its former chief executive Rex Tillerson, now Trump’s secretary of state, had lobbied against the rule, but similar regulations have been introduced in several other global markets since then.

The South African parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises inquiry into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has in recent weeks heard damning testimony from top executives at both Eskom and corporate vehicles controlled by the notorious Gupta brothers, in particular Trillian Capital Partners. On 7 November, former Eskom chief executive Tshediso Matona, who was appointed in October 2014 from the Department of Public Enterprises following a long-drawn-out search and was later suspended on contested grounds, told the committee that Eskom, and the board in particular, was in disarray when he arrived.