The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Samuel Kamndaya
23 July 2008
A report on the siphoning of over Sh5 billion from the External Payment Arrears (EPA) account during the financial year 2006/2007 has been presented to the Government.
Bank of Tanzania (BoT) governo, Prof Beno Ndulu said this here yesterday after attending a two-day meeting held in camera with members of the public corporations accounts committee.
Chaired by Mr Zitto Kabwe (Chadema-Kigoma North), it was held on the sidelines of the ongoing budget session.
Prof Ndulu said the report had been presented to the minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Mustafa Mkulo.
He elaborated: "We conducted our own inside procedures and presented the findings to the minister".
The report was the subject of a two-day meeting that was also attended by senior officials from the BoT, Treasury, Ernst & Young Auditors, the Auditor and Controller General (CAG)and members of the public corporations accounts committee.
According to Prof Ndulu, the funds discovered to have been swindled in the wake of the first Ernst & Young findings which established that over Sh133 billion was paid to some 22 firms unscrupulously during 2005/2006.
The first Ernst & Young report uncovered the Sh133 billion looted in the EPA during 2005/06 only.
The second report, for which the meeting was called, was written during the 2006/2007 financial year.
Meanwhile, the BoT governor yesterday declined to hand over the first comprehensive EPA report (that established the Sh133 billion loot) to the public corporations accounts committee on the ground that it belonged to the CAG.
The governor said since the report belonged to the CAG office, it was proper that the parliamentary committee sought the report from there.
According to Prof Ndulu, the audit was conducted within the BoT but it was not the rightful owner of the audit findings, which belong to the CAG.
Inside information has it that the committee has written to the CAG requesting to be given the comprehensive first EPA report.
For his part, however, the committee chairman, Mr Zitto Kabwe, said the committee would continue meeting and soon give its position and views on the new EPA scandal.
"I can't say anything right now because the committee meetings continue. We will be in a position to tell you our views after we complete the discussions," said Mr Kabwe.
Reports say that the latest findings point to additional fraud in the payment of Sh4.74 billion to M/S Njake Enterprises of Arusha, plus Sh455 million to M/S Ruaha Investment of Dar es Salaam, both out of the EPA account, during 2006/07.
Njake Enterprises is also one of the 22 companies that reportedly benefited from the already-confirmed Sh133 billion embezzlement of the EPA account during 2005/06, through the use of forged documents.
It is said that the new audit report also refers to alleged fraudulent payments amounting to Sh1 billion made by the BoT to M/S Malegesi Law Chambers of Dar es Salaam.
It is also among the 22 companies that benefited from the dubious EPA account payments during the Auditor and Controller General (CAG) 2005/06.
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