The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Rosina John
1 December 2009
An expert in document examination yesterday told the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam that some documents that suspects facing the Sh1.1 billion theft case presented were forged.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Hamad Hamis Hamad made this statement when testifying in the case in which a couple, Mr Manase Mwakale and Mrs Eddah Mwakale, is charged along with three others with stealing the money from the External Payment Arrears (EPA) account of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).
The husband and wife allegedly siphoned the money after presenting to BoT forged documents to show that a local company, registered as Changanyikeni Residential Complex Ltd, was assigned a debt by the General Marketing Company of India.
Other accused people are Messrs Davies Kamungu, Godfrey Mosha and Bahati Mahenge.
ASP Hamis, who works with the forensic bureau of the Tanzania Police Force, told the court that his examination of various documents, including the disputed ones, company registration form, CRDB bank cheque and other specimen documents, made him conclude that they were written by Mr Mwakale and signed by Mr Mahenge.
Led by state attorney Timon Vitalis, the witness told the court that the CRDB cheque number 007446 for withdrawing money from the account of Changanyikeni Company and company registration forms were filled by Mr Mwakale. They were then signed by Mr Mahenge by the name of Samson Mapunda, he told the court.
ASP Hamad was testifying before a panel of three magistrates led by principal resident magistrate Sekela Moshi. Others are Messrs Sam Rumanyika and Lameck Mlacha.
He said he was asked by his employer to check on the validity of the documents.
He told the court that during examination, he found that the alphabets in the disputed documents resembled those in other specimens. This meant that all documents were written by one person, he said.
The hearing of the case started in May this year. Some prosecution witnesses, including the BoT director of banking, Mr Emmanuel Boaz, and a member of the presidential task force, ASP Deusdedit Matapa, have already testified.
The hearing of the case will continue today.
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