Minister in graft probe

[Mlugaluga]

Wakuu, sidhani kama anayezungumziwa kwenye hii issue ni Chenge, ukidigest kwa makini inaelekea kama vile ni Profesa.

 

[makambajeki]

Kumshitaki Chenge ni hadi CCM iondoke madarakani, vinginevyo ni sawa na Rais Bush wa marekani ni mtanzania.

 

[Mfwatiliaji]

Minister’s bank accounts frozen-Suspected of corrupt involvement in radar and other deals




THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

AUTHORITIES have blocked access to a number of local and international bank accounts held by a senior cabinet minister currently under corruption investigations over various dubious government contracts sealed during the third phase government, it has now been learnt.

Informed sources say the minister, whom we shall not name today, is alleged to have received millions of US dollars in bribes from controversial transactions including the 2002 military radar and air traffic control system deal.

According to the sources, the minister’s personal bank accounts along with the accounts of some close family members - including his children - have all been frozen as the investigations continue.

’’The minister has been blocked access to his bank accounts within Tanzania and also abroad - which is where most of the money is believed to have been stashed away,’’ a source close to the ongoing investigations told THISDAY.

It has also been revealed that the minister was just about a fortnight ago subjected to searches of his office and residence in Dar es Salaam by local detectives working with counterparts from Britain.

Our sources further say the politician, who is a professional lawyer, reportedly tried to stop the detectives from searching him on the grounds that he is a senior public official ? but was told that the orders to investigate him were endorsed by the ’’highest office in the land.’’

Insiders say British detectives investigating the 28 million pounds sterling (approx. 70bn/-) radar scandal have traced some of the $12m (approx. 15bn/-) illegal kickbacks paid to fugitive businessman Shailesh Vithlani to a personal bank account owned by the minister abroad.

Britain’s leading defence manufacturer BAE Systems (which made the controversial radar system in question) is understood to have secretly paid the $12m to Vithlani’s own Swiss bank account. The money is alleged to have been used to pay what amounted to bribes to senior Tanzanian public officials to approve the radar deal in 2002.

The minister now said to be under increasingly-intense investigation, held a high-level position in the third phase government of ex-president Benjamin Mkapa from 1995 to 2005, and is currently also serving as a senior cabinet member in President Jakaya Kikwete’s fourth phase administration.

He is believed to have played a key role in a number of controversial government contracts in various key sectors (including energy and minerals, to name but two) during the Mkapa administration.

But contrary to widespread public expectations, he somehow managed to survive the comprehensive cabinet reshuffle conducted by President Kikwete back in February.

Both Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) in Tanzania have been investigating the radar deal, with British detectives frequently flying to the country to link up with their local counterparts in questioning some suspects.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Britain’s High Court yesterday overturned a UK government decision to drop an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption in a major deal between arms maker BAE Systems and the Saudi Arabian government.

The SFO in December 2006 abandoned the inquiry into the 1985 BAE deal worth 43 billion pounds ($85bn) to provide Riyadh with fighter jets and other military equipment. The then UK attorney general Lord Peter Goldsmith, as the government’s principal legal advisor, announced that the probe into the arms company was to be discontinued, saying pursuing the investigation could damage British foreign policy objectives in the Middle East.

The then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said at the time that pursuing the probe into the Al-Yamamah deal could threaten intelligence links with Saudi Arabia at a crucial point in the ’’war on terror’’.

But two judges ruled yesterday that SFO director Robert Wardle ’’was required to satisfy the court that all that could reasonably be done had been done to resist the threat?and he has failed to do so.’’

One of the judges, Alan Moses, said in the High Court: ’’No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice.’’

The legal challenge was brought by anti-bribery pressure group Corner House Research and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which argued that the decision to drop the probe was taken for commercial reasons, and not on the grounds of national security.

Susan Hawley of Corner House hailed yesterday’s High Court decision as ’’a great day for British justice.’’

’’The judges have stood up for the right of independent prosecutors not to be subjected to political pressure, and they have made sure that the government cannot use national security arrangements just because a prosecution is not in their interests,’’ she said.

Symon Hill, of CAAT, said: ’’It has been clear from the start that the dropping of the investigation was about neither national security nor jobs. It was due to the influence of BAE and Saudi princes over the UK government.’’

But commentators said yesterday’s decision does not automatically mean that the investigation will resume.

The SFO said in a statement it was ’’carefully considering the implications of the judgment and the way forward,’’ but made no further comment.

BAE Systems simply said: ’’The case was between two campaign groups and the director of the SFO. It concerned the legality of a decision made by the director of the SFO. BAE Systems played no part in that decision.’’

My take:

The going is getting tough.
Hivi Kikwete hakuyajua haya alipomrudisha kwenye cabinet!??.
This guy is not serious at all.
Na washauri wake hawafai kabisaaa!
Wa kumtetea muendelee, lakini naona mwisho wa siku unakaribia

 

[RR]

Wakuu, sidhani kama anayezungumziwa kwenye hii issue ni Chenge, ukidigest kwa makini inaelekea kama vile ni Profesa.

Its Chenge from all angles....

1. article hii nyingine inataja taaluma yake - mwanasheria
2. alikua high official (sio waziri) toka 1995 hadi 2005 - alikua AG
3. ni waziri mwandamizi wa sasa - ni waziri wa miundo mbinu

who else fits this description?

 

[Mfwatiliaji]

Its Chenge from all angles....

1. article hii nyingine inataja taaluma yake - mwanasheria
2. alikua high official (sio waziri) toka 1995 hadi 2005 - alikua AG
3. ni waziri mwandamizi wa sasa - ni waziri wa miundo mbinu

who else fits this description?

Also:

-He is a professional lawyer

-He is believed to have played a key role in a number of controversial government contracts in various key sectors (including energy and minerals) during the Mkapa administration

 

[Kiranja]

Wakuu, sidhani kama anayezungumziwa kwenye hii issue ni Chenge, ukidigest kwa makini inaelekea kama vile ni Profesa.

Inaelekea Mlugaluga uko katika ile list ya akina "RAI" walioandika "waziri ajiandaa kumpiku Jk 2010" wakimlenga Mwandosya, kwa nia ya kumficha Lowassa na genge lake akiwamo Chenge kuwa ndio wanaotaka kugombia 2010 wakisema JK ni "one term president" hiyo ndio kauli mbiu yao, na waliona kama kina Mwakyembe na Sitta wamewapunguzia kasi, na wanasema hawajawazuia ila wamewasukuma kurahisisha kutimiza azma yao kwani hawatakua tena na aibu wala huruma bali "VITA MBELE" na wamekwisha kuanza kama mutakavyoona baadaye, kwa kuanzia na Rostam kupambana hadharani bungeni na yuko tayari kwa lolote

 

[Kuhani]

My take:

The going is getting tough.
Hivi Kikwete hakuyajua haya alipomrudisha kwenye cabinet!??.
This guy is not serious at all.
Na washauri wake hawafai kabisaaa!
Wa kumtetea muendelee, lakini naona mwisho wa siku unakaribia

Kikwete sio kwamba hakujua. Yani inabidi umwelewe Kikwete vizuri kujua kinacho endelea. Kikwete ni msanii, Machiavelli fulani. Ndio maana amefika kuwa Rais bila wasifu wowote. Na sidhani kama yeye mwenyewe ni mwizi - kumbuka Kikwete alipiga muhuri jina lake kwenye mawazo ya Watanzania mara ya kwanza alipozuia akaunti za marehemu Malima. Ila, kila kitu anacho fanya Kikwete ni mahesabu ya Kisiasa. Moja ya tabia za ki Machiavelli ni kuwa na uaminifu na utiifu ndani ya vigenge vya utawala. Kuna watiifu wake ndani ya hivyo vigenge ambao hawezi kuwatosa hata wakiharibu. Ni watu wakaribu mno, na anawahitaji kwenye madaraka yake. Na sio kosa la washauri, sio kwamba hajui kinachoe endelea.

Mwisho niseme, haya yote ni kama hii taarifa ya hili jarida ni kweli, maana naamini Bongo hakuna vyombo vya habari:
'Informed sources say the minister, whom we shall not name today...' Hakuna gazeti la maana linaandika hivi. Wanatoa sababu kwa nini hawataji jina.

 

[bokoboko]

BAE corruption investigation switches to Tanzania

· Focus on £28m radar deal with East African state
· SFO's new director due to take over this month

Following the uproar over its halted Saudi investigation, the Serious Fraud Office is expected to decide whether to bring fresh corruption charges against arms manufacturer BAE within six weeks, over a second arms deal, this time with Tanzania.

A minister from the east African state has denied that more than $1m (£507,500) in his offshore accounts came from BAE.

Investigators involved in a three-year inquiry after the controversial deal to sell Tanzania a £28m radar system identified the money in Jersey accounts controlled by the poverty-striken country's infrastructure minister, Andrew Chenge.

Tanzania's anti-corruption bureau, which has been working with authorities in the UK, Switzerland and Jersey, wants to establish if the money is linked to multi-million pound secret commission payments made by BAE.

Chenge does not dispute the money in his Jersey accounts. But he told the Guardian: "The obvious inference [of the investigations] is that I have received for my benefit 'corrupt payments' from BAE. This is untrue."

He said he was only involved in minor aspects of the radar deal, which was promoted by other ministries and approved by the Tanzanian cabinet. His bank records, he said, would show investigators that "there is no connection to the BAE Tanzanian radar deal".

His US lawyer from Cleveland, Ohio, J Lewis Madorsky, added: "While the matters in question took place a number of years ago, we can state ... that any and all allegations of illegality, impropriety, misconduct and unethical behaviour made against our client are categorically and vigorously denied".

Investigators say Chenge could be a valuable witness. The target of their investigation is not him but BAE. The arms company made the commission payments to a local agent in Tanzania to promote the £28m radar sale, through an elaborate chain of offshore companies and a Swiss bank.

The agent has now left the country and is wanted by Interpol.

These developments come at a key moment in the BAE saga. A landmark high court ruling on Thursday said that the decision to drop the SFO's Saudi inquiry was wrong.

In a huge embarrassment for the British and Saudi governments, the court rejected the claims that the inquiry had to be closed down for reasons of national security and because lives would be at risk.

And it took the extraordinary step of naming Prince Bandar, the crown prince's son, as the man behind what it said could be characterised as an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Former prime minister Tony Blair caused uproar by personally forcing a halt to investigations into the Saudi deal. The Guardian subsequently disclosed that £1bn had been paid into accounts controlled by Prince Bandar during the deal. Bandar says the payments were not improper.

Inspectors from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) grilled British officials in London last week about their failure to get results from any of their BAE investigations. Britain signed up to an international treaty to outlaw bribery, but there have never been any prosecutions.

The Tanzania deal, although smaller in cash terms than the Saudi deals, is equally controversial: Tanzania is one of the world's poorest countries, and the UK government is paying more than £100m this year to help the heavily-indebted country's budget.

It was Blair again who forced the radar deal through the British cabinet, despite protests from the then international development secretary, Clare Short. She said the sale, for which Tanzania had to borrow yet more from a commercial bank, was corrupt and "stank".

A lengthy SFO investigation in the UK subsequently discovered that 31% of the deal's contract price had been diverted via Switzerland.

BAE transferred the money to a subsidiary, Red Diamond Trading, registered anonymously in the British Virgin Islands.

Red Diamond then moved the cash to a Swiss account in the name of a Panama company, Envers Trading Corporation. This entity had two Panamanian nominee directors. But it was secretly controlled by a Tanzanian middleman, Shailesh Vithlani, according to Dar es Salaam court papers.

Investigators are now checking whether Vithlani arranged to pass any money in turn to Tanzanian politicians and officials.

Sources said the bank in Jersey had promptly frozen transactions and filed a suspicious activity report when the Tanzanian inquiries began.

Vithlani, who is of Indian extraction but holds a British passport, is listed as wanted by Interpol.

He has been charged by the Tanzanian anti-corruption bureau with lying to investigators, but has left the country. His whereabouts are unknown.

According to the charges, Vithlani falsely denied he was the owner of the Panama company, and falsely claimed he had only handled a separate commission of 1% on the deal.

The SFO's new director, Richard Alderman, former head of UK tax investigations, is due to take over this month. The SFO refused to comment yesterday.

BAE, which has previously denied wrongdoing, also declined to comment, or to explain its chain of offshore payments, other than to say "BAE Systems continues to fully co-operate with the SFO investigation".

The company has recently launched an extensive public relations campaign and last week unveiled a report commissioned from a commercial consultancy, Oxford Economics, which claimed BAE was of key value to the UK economy