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- Apr 4, 2009
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Govt seizes DECI funds
2009-04-20 16:39:43
By Lusekelo Philemon
The government has seized all the money in the accounts owned by the controversial Development Entrepreneurship Community Initiative (DECI) until further notice.
Finance and Economic Affairs minister Mustafa Mkulo made the revelation yesterday when briefing journalists on the government's decision on DECI undertakings.
He said the decision to seize the accounts was reached to allay persistent fears among DECI members who have ‘sown' their money in the pyramid scheme which the government has declared was illegal.
``This is due to fact that DECI has already ceased its operation in all its branches. Its decision has caused a lot of panic among its members,`` he said, adding that the idea was to ensure the ‘sown' money remained safe.
``As government we have taken some practical measures to make sure that everything goes smoothly,`` he stressed.
He named some of those strategies as ensuring that all areas used by DECI are guarded as well as that accounts of DECI owners and DECI itself are protected until the fate of the scheme is determined.
Mkulo also explained that other measures include tracing the location of the money which is not in the bank accounts.
``And whenever the money is found, the government would ensure that it is in safe hands,`` he stressed.
Other measures include collecting records of all members as well as the amounts they have `sown` and the amount they anticipated to `harvest`.
Mkulo however said the government would continue with thorough investigation of DECI (T) owners in relation to DECI (Africa) Limited which was registered in Kenya.
``Other measures include making sure that DECI operators and owners don`t run away. And we continue educating people on the negative impact of pyramid schemes,`` he said.
He however cautioned people who would be found deceiving the public on the legality of the scheme, stressing that punitive measure would be taken against those who will be going against the country`s constitution.
``I call upon DECI officials across the country to cooperate with the government and ensure that the funds of their members are safe,`` he concluded.
The government move comes barely a week after it announced that DECI was operating illegally.
Bank of Tanzania, Capital Markets & Securities Authority (CMSA) and other government institutions published notices warning the public that DECI was engaged in the pyramid scheme which was illegal.
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda also recently said DECI was operating against written Laws of the land that prohibits pyramid and other similar schemes.
On April 8, this year, PCT Committee Chairman Bishop Bartholomew Sheggah said already the church had appealed to President Jakaya Kikwete to intervene in the matter.
Bishop Sheggah and his PCT Committee secretary Rev. Bernard Kung`unde said DECI was a religious institution.
On Saturday, a DECI official announced ceasing of the organisation`s operations throughout the country, and laid out a refund schedule for those who had `sown but not reaped`.
In a statement the organisation`s leaders said that only those who have `sown` for the first time would be refunded their ``seeds``.
They said those who had earlier ‘harvested' their money would not be refunded anything.
``From now on, there will be neither `sowing` nor `harvesting` so as to concur with government directives. And those who have the receipts showing that they had ``harvested`` should not come to the DECI offices for refunds,`` said one of the DECI officials.
They said those members who would not want to take out their seeds would have their money transferred into another organization which would be approved by the government.
DECI officials also said they would publish the names of those members eligible for refunds at the branches where they planted their `seeds`.
``The refund would follow the procedure of last in, first out and the exercise will take six weeks,`` the official said, calling on members to be tolerant.
The exercise of refunding `seeds` is expected to start tomorrow (April 21), going up to May 23, this year, he said.
2009-04-20 16:39:43
By Lusekelo Philemon
The government has seized all the money in the accounts owned by the controversial Development Entrepreneurship Community Initiative (DECI) until further notice.
Finance and Economic Affairs minister Mustafa Mkulo made the revelation yesterday when briefing journalists on the government's decision on DECI undertakings.
He said the decision to seize the accounts was reached to allay persistent fears among DECI members who have ‘sown' their money in the pyramid scheme which the government has declared was illegal.
``This is due to fact that DECI has already ceased its operation in all its branches. Its decision has caused a lot of panic among its members,`` he said, adding that the idea was to ensure the ‘sown' money remained safe.
``As government we have taken some practical measures to make sure that everything goes smoothly,`` he stressed.
He named some of those strategies as ensuring that all areas used by DECI are guarded as well as that accounts of DECI owners and DECI itself are protected until the fate of the scheme is determined.
Mkulo also explained that other measures include tracing the location of the money which is not in the bank accounts.
``And whenever the money is found, the government would ensure that it is in safe hands,`` he stressed.
Other measures include collecting records of all members as well as the amounts they have `sown` and the amount they anticipated to `harvest`.
Mkulo however said the government would continue with thorough investigation of DECI (T) owners in relation to DECI (Africa) Limited which was registered in Kenya.
``Other measures include making sure that DECI operators and owners don`t run away. And we continue educating people on the negative impact of pyramid schemes,`` he said.
He however cautioned people who would be found deceiving the public on the legality of the scheme, stressing that punitive measure would be taken against those who will be going against the country`s constitution.
``I call upon DECI officials across the country to cooperate with the government and ensure that the funds of their members are safe,`` he concluded.
The government move comes barely a week after it announced that DECI was operating illegally.
Bank of Tanzania, Capital Markets & Securities Authority (CMSA) and other government institutions published notices warning the public that DECI was engaged in the pyramid scheme which was illegal.
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda also recently said DECI was operating against written Laws of the land that prohibits pyramid and other similar schemes.
On April 8, this year, PCT Committee Chairman Bishop Bartholomew Sheggah said already the church had appealed to President Jakaya Kikwete to intervene in the matter.
Bishop Sheggah and his PCT Committee secretary Rev. Bernard Kung`unde said DECI was a religious institution.
On Saturday, a DECI official announced ceasing of the organisation`s operations throughout the country, and laid out a refund schedule for those who had `sown but not reaped`.
In a statement the organisation`s leaders said that only those who have `sown` for the first time would be refunded their ``seeds``.
They said those who had earlier ‘harvested' their money would not be refunded anything.
``From now on, there will be neither `sowing` nor `harvesting` so as to concur with government directives. And those who have the receipts showing that they had ``harvested`` should not come to the DECI offices for refunds,`` said one of the DECI officials.
They said those members who would not want to take out their seeds would have their money transferred into another organization which would be approved by the government.
DECI officials also said they would publish the names of those members eligible for refunds at the branches where they planted their `seeds`.
``The refund would follow the procedure of last in, first out and the exercise will take six weeks,`` the official said, calling on members to be tolerant.
The exercise of refunding `seeds` is expected to start tomorrow (April 21), going up to May 23, this year, he said.
- SOURCE: Guardian
