Tanzania: Kikwete - I Will Act On EPA Report

Source from:  The Citizen (Dar es Salaam) 18 August 2008 08/22/2008

President Jakaya Kikwete said yesterday that he would give his decision on the EPA probe report in the next few days. He made the remarks after receiving the report from the task force charged with investigating the loss of Sh133 billion from the External Payments Arrears account that was under the watch of the Bank of Tanzania. A State House statement quoted President Kikwete as saying that he would go through the report and issue a statement that would be made available to the public. The President received the report at State House from the chairman of the task force appointed earlier this year, Attorney General Johnson Mwanyika. Mr Mwanyika was in the company of other members of the team, namely Inspector General of Police Saidi Mwema and director general of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau Edward Hosea. The President formed the team on January 9, this year, and directed it to complete its investigations within six months. Its terms of reference included recovery of all the money that was fraudulently paid out from the account in question in the 2005/6 financial year. A task force had to pursue the culprits and recover the loot, and called on the public to come forward with information to enable it to establish who stole the money, where it was sent to and how it was spent. "We would like to affirm to the public that any piece of information will be worked on with due seriousness to ensure the truth is established so in order to uphold respect for national institutions," the team said in a statement signed by Mr Mwanyika. President Kikwete formed the team after going through the audit report compiled by Ernst & Young on behalf of the Controller and Auditor General. The report was handed over to the Head of State on January 7, this year. The Ernst & Young report revealed that 22 companies received dubious payments from BoT under the EPA programme. They include 13 local companies which pocketed Sh90,359,078,804 ( about $78 million) using forged documents during the 2005/6 financial year alone. The companies were not supposed to be paid even a single cent, Ernst & Young concluded in its report compiled after investigations spanning four months. It named the companies as Bencon International Ltd, VB & Associates Ltd, Bina Resorts Ltd, Venus Hotel Ltd, Njake Hotel and Tours Ltd, Maltan Mining Company Ltd and Money Planners and Consultants Ltd. Others are Bora Hotel and Apartments Ltd, BV Holding Ltd, Ndovu Soaps Ltd, Navy Cut Tobacco Ltd, Changanyikeni Residential Complex Ltd and Kagoda Agriculture Ltd. All are based in the country, according to a summary of the report released by Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo. The auditing, conducted after Opposition MPs led by Dr Willibrod Slaa alleged massive theft of public funds within BoT, further established that nine other companies were irregularly paid Sh42 billion. They are G&T International Ltd, Excellent Services Ltd, Mibale Farm Ltd, Liquidity Services Ltd, Clayton Marketing Ltd, M/s Rashtas Ltd, Maregesi Law Chambers, Kiloloma & Brothers and Karnel Ltd. However, there are no records on Rashtas (T) Ltd and G&T International Ltd at the Registrar of Companies' office. The audit prompted President Kikwete to sack Dr Daudi Ballali as BoT governor and replaced with him Prof Benno Ndulu. The sacking of Dr Ballali, who has since died, came 21 days after well-placed sources affirmed that he had tendered his resignation letter to the president, citing health problems. Dr Ballali died of an undisclosed ailment in the United States in May and his death was made a top secret by close family members even after rumours about his death had circulated widely. He was buried in Washington, DC, according to his wife. Dr Ballali's final public appearance in Tanzania was during a new conference at BoT headquarters in August last year during which he rejected calls for his resignation, saying his hands were clean. He was reported to have left for US for medical treatment a few weeks later. Enditem