East African Business Week (Kampala)
9 November 2008
Dar Es Salaam — Suspects of a scandal involving the siphoning of US$133 million (Tsh 133 billion) from the External Payments Account (EPA) in the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) have finally been brought before a Dar es Salaam court to answer various charges in connection with their involvement in one of the worst scandals to hit Tanzania in recent years.
While this is happening, a new stage is set for the beneficiaries of the looted funds to be publicly named by suspects in a bid to clean their names and reputations.
As a pandora's box is set to be opened, a number of questions and their implications are expected to get answers, one of them being allegations that the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) was one of the beneficiaries of the looted funds.
Will the truth finally come out? Will the suspects decide to spill the beans? These are the two crucial questions in the whole scandal, which has been surrounded by several allegations since it came out for the first time in parliament.
Allegations on whether former president and CCM chairman Benjamin Mkapa gave instructions to the then BoT Governor, Mr. Daudi Ballali to fund the
2005 election campaign are likely to get appropriate answers this time as the suspects would want to tell the court truth.
The public would also want to know who sanctioned the deal, thus extending the list of those who are supposed to be arraigned before court from mere businessmen to politicians and senior government officials mainly from the ministry of finance.
However, East African Business Week was informed last week that five more suspects, this time from the BoT were to be arraigned before court. The five BoT senior officials were suspended and later fired following their involvement in the scandal.
As a prominent business tycoon Jayantkumar Patel alias Jeetu Patel was last week (Wednesday) put in the dock - along with nine others who played key roles in the scandal that has rocked the country.
Tanzania politics is also set to enter a new stage with analysts keen to see how serious the government is in ensuring that justice is served.
The 10 suspects who were arraigned before the Kisutu Magistrate's Court last week are: Mr. Bahati John Mahenge, Mr. Manase Hezekiah Mwakale and Mr. Davis Magnus Kamungu.
Others are Mr. Eddah Nkoma Mwakale, Mr. Johnson Mutachukurwa Rukaza, Mr. Godfrey Herry Mosha, Mr. Devenra Patel, Mr. Amit Nandy and Mr. Ketan Chohan.
On Thursday a week ago, three more suspects were taken to court. These included Mr. Farijala Shaaban Hussein, Mr. Rajab Shaban Maranda and an Arusha resident, one Japhet Laiyamdani Lima. Maranda is one of high ranking CCM leaders in Kigoma region.
Prosecutors told court that the suspects illegally forged and obtained Tsh31.9 billion from BoT between 2003 and 2005 in Dar es Salaam.
Analysts are also keen to see whether or not some big names would still be pursued even after rumours have swirled that they have returned the looted money to the government.
They are also keen to find out whether the move of prosecuting the culprits is one of the CCM machinations to clean itself and its people for possible "recycling" for the 2010 general elections.
The EPA court move follows President Jakaya Kikwete's directive in an address to the nation last month that those failing to return the money before the start of this month face legal action.
The EPA scam was first brought into light by an audit conducted by audit firm Delloite and later Ernst & Young, which suspected payments totaling Tsh 133 billion had been made to 22 local companies in 2005/06 under the EPA scheme.
Of this money, Tsh 90 billion was paid to 13 firms based on fake and forged documentation, while another nine were paid an equivalent of Tsh42.6 billion without any supporting documents and several others were not registered by the country's Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA).
Following the revelations by the audit firm, president Kikwete formed a probe team - which comprised of Attorney General Johnson Mwanyika, Inspector General of Police Said Mwema and Prevention of Corruption and Combating of Corruption Director General Edward Hosea to investigate the scam and report back and advice the president accordingly.
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