CIS 180bn scam: Tanzania Government to act

[BAK]

Govt now targets 180bn/- CIS scam

-New initiative underway to nail high-profile debtors

THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

AFTER a much-publicised crackdown on corruption at the Bank of Tanzania, the government appears ready to shift its focus onto the long-standing import support scheme scandal, where around 16.6 billion Japanese yen (approx. 180bn/-) mysteriously disappeared.

The Ministry of Finance has decided to hire private debt collection agencies to get a total of 916 debtors countrywide, comprising mainly prominent members of the local business community plus politicians, to return the outstanding funds to the government, and it is understood that a public tender document inviting private collection agencies to bid for the contract is already in circulation.

’’The Government of Tanzania, through the Ministry of Finance, intends to engage debt collectors during the financial year 2007/08 to collect all outstanding debts owing to the Commodity Import Support Fund (CIS) under the Japanese Non-Project Grant and Debt Relief Grant availed to various beneficiaries countrywide,’’ says the tender document.

It sets a February 20 deadline for submission of all bids. The finance ministry is seeking private debt collectors with both the lowest bids and demonstrated manpower and experience for the job.

Well-placed sources have told THISDAY that the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), the office of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and other law enforcement agencies have long been trailing the import support scam.

They say the names of various prominent members of parliament and cabinet ministers - both past and present - are among those featured in the list of 916 debtors.

Also strongly linked to the scam is the chief executive officer of Quality Group Limited, Yusuf Manji, who according to THISDAY investigations is believed to have pocketed billions of shillings out of the CIS scheme.

Our investigations have verified that the list of high-profile debtors includes a good number of influential MPs, retired or current cabinet ministers, and senior government officials. The wives of some prominent politicians are also mentioned in the list, our sources say.

Under the CIS scheme, beneficiaries were supposed to provide 30 per cent of the requested funds known as ’cash cover.’ In this light, it is understood that the listed debtors were basically duped into borrowing CIS funds they thought they would never have to repay.

The scheme was initially administered by the Ministry of Finance, but from September 2002 it was moved to the Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB), ostensibly for better management. It is understood that all attempts by TIB officials ever since to recover the money from the debtors have proved futile.

It is also understood that during a parliamentary session last year, the bank even sent debt collectors to Dodoma to discuss payment schedules with the defaulting MPs.

Government sources say much of the outstanding 180bn/- is now considered uncollectible because the delinquent debtors have either ’’disappeared’’ or do not have the money to pay, among other factors.

But it is also estimated that at least 50bn/- of the unpaid CIS funds is readily collectible from companies registered in the names of some of the well-known debtors.

 

[SYLLOGIST!]

A scheme breeding schemers. This will amount to 263 billion! If at all these businesses are there we are yet to see.

 

[zomba]

Ahsante JK, at least we see some action. Mnyonge mnyongeni haki yake mpeni.

 

[Lunyungu]

His aim is not pure anataka kufunika hili la BOT lakini bado tuko naye . Kaamua hajafanya bado kama la BOT kaamua lakini halijatekelezwa .Seeing is believing man .

 

[FairPlayer]

Angalau madudu yanaanikwa wazi....

Jamani mnataka nini tena???!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mtanzania]

Nyingine hii (Hawa Wahindi wanatuchezea kweli kweli shauri ya tamaa ya viongozi wetu):

Latest revelations in wake of EPA scandal: Jeetu Patel also played key role in DCP scam

- 1994 Bunge probe fingered him alongside V.G Chavda
- Augustine Mrema:They were fraudulently paid over 661bn/


THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

DAR ES SALAAM business tycoon Jeetu Patel, a key suspect in the 133bn/- external payment arrears scandal at the Bank of Tanzania, was also involved in another embezzlement involving billions of shillings from the central bank in the 1990s, THISDAY can reveal today.

Records show that the businessman, whose full name is Jayantkumar Chandubhai Patel, was identified in a 1994 parliamentary committee investigation as one of the key architects of the infamous Debt Conversion Programme (DCP) funds misuse scam, which was quite similar to the present-day EPA scandal.

The parliamentary committee led by the then Rorya member of parliament, Ayombe Ayila, discovered in its investigation that Jeetu Patel was again a leading beneficiary of irregular payments made by BoT in the name of DCP.

The illegal payments were traced to several companies understood to be owned by Patel, including Azania Agricultural Enterprises, Liberty Leather Shoe Limited, and Azania Eximco, all of which fall under the AIMS group of companies.

Fresh investigations by THISDAY have established that the parliamentary probe committee questioned Jeetu Patel on September 9, 1994, as part of its investigation of the DCP scandal.

The committee was primarily investigating the involvement of another businessman, Vidyadhar Girdharlal (V.G) Chavda, in the same scam, and in the course of this stumbled upon the fraudulent payments also made to Jeetu Patel.

It was discovered that Jeetu Patel and V.G Chavda were both inextricably linked to the scam as leading beneficiaries.

’’Jeetu Patel conspired in the preparation of forged documents purporting to show that he received 82,295,000/- from V.G Chavda for consultancy fees, stationeries, printing and equipment. A report from the office of the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) revealed that such payments were false,’’ asserted part of the Bunge probe committee’s final report.

The report quoted the then minister for home affairs, Augustine Mrema, as saying that both Jeetu Patel and V.G Chavda were fraudulently paid out of the DCP funds a total of 661,274,660/-, without practically producing any goods or services.

In its recommendations, the committee advised that a formal government investigation be launched on Jeetu Patel and the whole DCP programme.

The committee also recommended that V.G Chavda should be declared a prohibited immigrant (PI) and formally charged with embezzlement of funds from the Bank of Tanzania.

Although Chavda was indeed kicked out of the country in 1996, he returned a few years later, and is understood to be still living in Dar es Salaam while efforts by the Attorney General’s Chambers to enforce the PI notice and a High Court ruling against his continued stay in the country have failed so far.

Like Chavda, Jeetu Patel has never been charged with any criminal offence in relation to the DCP scandal. On the contrary, it now appears that he later went on to be paid more billions of shillings by the same BoT via the EPA account - using forged documents yet again.

Investigations by THISDAY have already established that Jeetu Patel is the owner of eight out of 13 companies listed as beneficiaries of over 90bn/- fraudulently paid from the EPA account during 2005/06 alone.

The eight companies so linked to Patel are Navycut Tobacco (T) Limited, Ndovu Soaps Limited, Bina Resorts Limited, Bencon International Limited, Maltan Mining Company Limited, Bora Hotels & Apartments Limited, Venus Hotels Limited, and B.V. Holdings Limited.

The remaining five companies on the same EPA account fraud list are Kagoda Agriculture Limited, VB & Associates Company Limited, Changanyikeni Residential Complex Ltd, Money Planners & Consultants, and Njake Hotel & Tours Limited.

 

[BAK]

2/4/2008

Dk Slaa aibua ufisadi mwingine wa Sh1 trilioni

Na Tausi Mbowe, Dodoma
Mwananchi

MBUNGE wa Karatu, (Chadema), Dk Willibrod Slaa, ameibua kashfa nyingine na kudai kuwa zaidi ya Sh1 trilioni zimepotea katika mpango wa Mfuko wa Kusaidia Wafanyabiashara Kuagiza Bidhaa kutoka Nje (Import Support).

Dk Slaa aliwaeleza wabunge jana wakati wa semina kuhusu muswada wa Sheria ya Umeme na Biashara ya Mafuta kuwa katika mpango huo makampuni 980 yalianzishwa na wawekezaji ambapo mtu mmoja pekee alianzisha makampuni hewa zaidi ya 35.

Bila kutaja jina la mwekezaji huyo, Dk Slaa alidai kuwa yuko tayari kutaja majina ya kampuni hizo hewa hadharani zilizoanzishwa na mwekezaji huyo.

"Mheshimiwa mwenyekiti, niko tayari kutaja hadharani majina yote ya makampuni hayo hewa yaliyoanzishwa na mwekezaji huyo na kusababisha zaidi ya tirioni moja kupotea, ambazo ni pesa za walalahoi," alisema Dk Slaa.

Dk Slaa pia hivi karibuni aliibua kashfa ya ufisadi ndani ya Benki Kuu ya Tanzania (BoT) ambapo baada ya ukaguzi uliofanywa na Kampuni ya Ernst &Young ilibainika kupotea kwa njia ya udanganyifu Sh133 bilioni katika Akaunti ya Malipo ya Madeni ya Nje (EPA).

Kubainika kwa ufisadi huo, Rais Jakaya Kiwete alimfukuza kazi aliyekuwa Gavana wa BoT, Daudi Ballali na kuigaiza Bodi ya Wakurugenzi wa benki hiyo kufanya uchunguzi na kuwachukulia hatua zinazostahili maafisa wengine wa benki hiyo waliohusika kwenye upotevu huo.

Wakatiu huo huo, wabunge wamemuomba Spika wa Bunge Samwel Sitta kuangalia uwezekano wa ripoti ya Ukaguzi wa EPA kupelekwa bungeni ili waijadili kwa kina, ombi ambalo lilikubaliwa na Spika akisema kuwa atazungumza na serikali ili iweze kuwafikia.

Hata hivyo, Spika Sitta ambaye anaondoka leo kwenda Marekani, alimkataza Naibu Spika, Anna Makinda kuruhusu mjadala unaohusu BoT na Richmond mpaka atakaporudi Alhamisi wiki hii kwa kuwa ni masuala nyeti ambayo lazima yajadiliwe akiwepo.

 

[BAK]

Dar pursues CCM officials, MPs on list of $180m CIS fund defaulters

By MIKE MANDE
THE EAST AFRICAN

Borrowers from the Tanzania Commodity Import Support (CIS) fund are in trouble as the government is engaging a collection agency to recover the debts owed by individuals and firms that have defaulted.

The move comes as the names of prominent figures in the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), former ministers and Members of Parliament are emerging among individuals and firms that have defaulted on payments to the $180 million CIS fund.

The names, which are to be made public in two months’ time, interestingly also include individuals and firms that have also been mentioned in the External Payment Arrears account (EPA) scandal at the Bank of Tanzania.

A director of one of the 980 firms that have defaulted on repaying funds loaned to them from 1980 to 1992/1993, said their names would be published in the print media in the next two months.

Investigations by The EastAfrican have revealed that the businessman, who is on the 10-member board of trustees of CCM, obtained a loan of $500,000 from the Fund through his firm.

It was established that some borrowers have started to sell off properties including family houses to service the loans before the three-month deadline for returning the money to the government.

The investigation further showed that most of the Tanzanian firms and businesses who obtained the money from the CIS coffers did not have the 30 per cent cash collateral required to be paid before securing the loan.

Some local firms and businessmen that did not have the 30 per cent cash instead sought the assistance of Tanzanian businessmen of Asian origin, who paid the money and later obtained 50 per cent of the loan as their cut. The borrower ended up securing 50 per cent of the loan, while paying nothing as collateral.

A former Minister of Transport and Communication in the second and third phase government, Ernest Nyanda, who is now deceased, was said to have obtained more than $150,000, which he used to buy the ill-fated passenger vessel mv Zahara through his firm, Victoria Marine Passenger Transport Services Ltd. The firm has since been liquidated.

The ship, which was built in 1965 in Greece as a military cargo ship before it was brought to Tanzania in 1999 as a passenger ship plying the Dar-Mtwara route, and was until recently still lying at Dar es Salaam port, had a capacity of 300 passengers and 285 tonnes of cargo with a gross tonnage of 1,369.4 and is now at the centre of a legal battle between the concerned parties.

Other firms mentioned among the CIS defaulters are the Noble Azania group of companies in Tanzania owned by JayantKumar Patel, alias Jeetu Patel, who is also mentioned in the EPA account scandal. He is said to have obtained $145 million from CIS through various deals with Tanzanian businessmen who wanted the collateral of 30 per cent deposit.

The other firms that allegedly benefited from CIS and EPA funds include Njake Hotel and Tours, which also owns petrol stations and truck transportation in the northern region. Others are Tanil Somaiya and his close associate Vimal Mehta through their firms Merlin International and Vithcorp Foods Packers.

Ketan Somaiya, based in Kenya, who managed through CIS to establish the defunct Delphis Bank, is also mentioned.

Ramadhani Kijjah, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, told The EastAfrican last week in Dar es Salaam that the government intends to engage debt collectors during the financial year 2007/2008 to collect all outstanding debts owing to the CIS under the Japanese Non-Project Grant and Debt Relief Grant intended for various beneficiaries countrywide.

The deputy PS said that there were about 916 debtors countrywide with an outstanding debt of about 16.6 billion Japanese Yen ($162 million) who have not paid back their loans, including accrued interest.

The government has already issued an ultimatum to 916 firms that have failed to return money amounting to $180 million to do so or face legal action.

The 916 firms were given three months to return the funds they took as loans from the Tanzania Investment Bank and other local banks through the central bank.

The government move comes in the wake of the Bank of Tanzania scandal in which more than 133 million was improperly paid to 22 local firms through the External Payment Arrears (EPA) account during the period 2005/2006.

 

[Lunyungu]

Dar pursues CCM officials, MPs on list of $180m CIS fund defaulters

Seeing is believing .So nakaa kimya hadi baadaye sana.

 

[Mtanzania]

Tanzania tumeibiwa mno na kwa muda mrefu. Deals zote hizo zinaongozwa na Wahindi muda wote, why?

 

[BAK]

The names, which are to be made public in two months' time, interestingly also include individuals and firms that have also been mentioned in the External Payment Arrears account (EPA) scandal at the Bank of Tanzania.

Why the names should be published in 2 months times and not tomorrow? What are they waiting for? In my opinion this is another usanii by JK and his government.

 

[Kapinga]

Tanzania tumeibiwa mno na kwa muda mrefu. Deals zote hizo zinaongozwa na Wahindi muda wote, why?

Im glad all this is coming into the open..wahindi tanzania (sio wote) but wengi wao wanadharau sana..sasa tunajua how yal made it in tanzania...wezi tuu through our stupid leaders...i have lost respect for BOT, TO CCM TO THE TANZANIAN GOVERNMENT AND I THANK THE MEDIA FOR BRINGIN THIS INTO LIGHT...TULIKUWA TUNAJIULIZA KWANINI HATUJAENDELEA KAMA NCHI ZA ASIA I THINK NOW WE KNOW WHY!!!

 

[Kapinga]

...uongozi Wa Ccm Ndio Mchawi Anayefanya Wakina Mama Wanazaa Kwa Tabu Na Watoto Kufa Na Malaria Na Magonjwa Mengine, Ndio Waotupa Elimu Duni, Hawana Policy Yoyote Ya Maana Ya Maendeleo..(mabilioni Ya Kikwete, Mvua Za Lowassa, Stupid!!!) We Have Idiots Running Our Country...tanzania Wake Up!!!

 

[BAK]

...uongozi Wa Ccm Ndio Mchawi Anayefanya Wakina Mama Wanazaa Kwa Tabu Na Watoto Kufa Na Malaria Na Magonjwa Mengine, Ndio Waotupa Elimu Duni, Hawana Policy Yoyote Ya Maana Ya Maendeleo..(mabilioni Ya Kikwete, Mvua Za Lowassa, Stupid!!!) We Have Idiots Running Our Country...tanzania Wake Up!!!

That is the truth! sometimes we need to call a spade a spade.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

wala tusiwalaumu wahindi kwani kwa kufanya hivyo tunajaribu kuondoka mzigo wa kuwajibika kwa wale wanaohusika.

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Wakulaumiwa ni mafisadi period. Wawe ni waKisukuma au kiHabeshi au kiZaramo. Mtu fisadi ni fisadi tu.

 

[Kubwajinga]

Commodity Import Support (CIS) fund ndio pesa ambayo ilikuwa inatumiwa na mafisadi wakuu kuwanyamazisha wabunge, maPS, wakuu ndani ya chama n.k, na wakati huo huo kujimegea mafungu yao nono. Mzee Mzindakaya ni mmoja kati ya waliokatiwa ili akae kimya bungeni na akakaa kimya kabisa kinyume na zamani. Watakaokuwa wamefilisika watafanywa nini maana wengi hawakuweka collateral kama ilivyotakiwa? Nani wa kufungwa hapa, ofisa aliyeidhisha, mkopaji au wote.

The move comes as the names of prominent figures in the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), former ministers and Members of Parliament are emerging among individuals and firms that have defaulted on payments to the $180 million CIS fund.

The names, which are to be made public in two months’ time, interestingly also include individuals and firms that have also been mentioned in the External Payment Arrears account (EPA) scandal at the Bank of Tanzania.

It was established that some borrowers have started to sell off properties including family houses to service the loans before the three-month deadline for returning the money to the government.

 

[Bongolander]

A former Minister of Transport and Communication in the second and third phase government, Ernest Nyanda, who is now deceased, was said to have obtained more than $150,000, which he used to buy the ill-fated passenger vessel mv Zahara through his firm, Victoria Marine Passenger Transport Services Ltd. The firm has since been liquidated.

The ship, which was built in 1965 in Greece as a military cargo ship before it was brought to Tanzania in 1999 as a passenger ship plying the Dar-Mtwara route, and was until recently still lying at Dar es Salaam port, had a capacity of 300 passengers and 285 tonnes of cargo with a gross tonnage of 1,369.4 and is now at the centre of a legal battle between the concerned parties.

TANZANIA mabingwa wa kununua mizoga, funny kusikia hata serikali inanunua magari second hand yanayotumiwa na wizara, huku wajanja(wezi) wakiweka hela mifukoni, sijui lile dege la pale airport lilifikia wapi, na sijui lile satelite dish koko la pale mambo ya nje limeishia wapi, na inaonekana kuwa tutaendelea kuibiwa tu!

 

[BAK]

Mawaziri, wabunge kutinga kortini kwa mikopo ya CIS
By Exuper Kachenje
Source: Mwananchi
Date: 2/7/2009

WAKATI vumbi la baadhi ya watuhumiwa wa wizi wa fedha za Akaunti ya Madeni ya Nje (EPA), halijatua huenda baadhi ya mawaziri, wabunge na vigogo ndani ya Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), wakaanza kuburuzwa mahakamani kutokana na kudaiwa kuchota jumla ya Sh199 bilioni za serikali kupitia Mpango wa Uingizaji Bidhaa kutoka Nje (CIS).

Habari ambazo Mwananchi Jumapili inazo zinaonyesha kuwa, miongoni mwa wadaiwa wa mfuko wa CIS wamo mawaziri, wabunge, makada wa CCM na wafanyabiashara wengine maarufu.

Juzi kampuni ya Msolopa Investment Ltd, iliyopewa jukumu la kukusanya fedha zilizochotwa na wajanja kupitia mfuko wa CIS, chini ya mkurugenzi wake, ilitaja kampuni 30 zilizochota fedha za mfuko huo na kueleza kwamba, zitachukuliwa hatua ikiwamo kufikishwa mahakamani ndani ya siku 14.

Habari za ndani ya kampuni hiyo zinathibitisha kuwa miongoni mwa wamiliki wa kampuni zilizojichotea fedha kupitia mfuko huo ni mawaziri, wabunge na makada wa Chama Cha Mapinduzi.

Akizungumza na Mwananchi Jumapili jana, Mkurugenzi wa kampuni ya Msolopa Investiment Ltd, Ibrahim Msolopa, alikiri baadhi ya wamiliki wa kampuni zinazodaiwa kuwa ni mawaziri, wabunge na makada wa CCM.

"Ni kweli, wamo vigogo walio serikalini, hilo siwezi kuficha, mawaziri, wabunge na wengine ni makada wa Chama Cha Mapinduzi, hiyo sifichi wamo," alisema Msolopa.

Alisema kati ya kampuni 916 zilizokopa fedha hizo tayari kampuni yake imezifikia kati ya kampuni 300 na 400 na kubainisha kwamba, miongoni mwa kampuni hizo zipo zilizoanza kulipa madeni na nyingine zimegoma.

Alifafanua pia baadhi ya kampuni hizo zipo katika mazungumzo na kampuni yake kuhusu utaratibu wa kulipa madeni yao, na kampuni yake itakamata mali za wadaiwa na zisipokidhi madeni yao hatua zaidi zitachukuliwa.

Mkurugenzi huyo alisema wadaiwa wasiolipa ni watu wanaokabiliwa na adhabu kwa kuwa walichofanya ili kujipatia fedha hizo za CIS, ni ugaidi kwa staili ya kukopa fedha za serikali.

"Bahati mbaya watu hawa walikopa fedha za serikali, nategemea tuliowataja watachukua hatua ya kulipa madeni yao katika muda tuliowapa, wasiolipa wanakabiliwa na adhabu, hii si mzaha wameichezea nchi," alisema Msolopa.

Aliongeza kuwa suala hilo ni zito na serikali haifanyi mchezo, pia akaonya kwamba kama ilivyokuwa kwa watuhumiwa wa EPA, wadaiwa wa CIS wasiolipa watapitiwa na mkondo wa sheria.

"Jela si Sheraton, hapafai, ilionekana kama mzaha kwa watuhumiwa wa EPA wakafikishwa mahakamani wakala rumande, na hawa wa CIS sheria haitawakwepa, nawasihi walipe madeni yao waepuke mkono wa sheria," alisema Msolopa.

Alibainisha, zoezi la kutaja kampuni zanazodaiwa linaendeshwa kwa awamu na kwamba, baadaye kampuni yake itatangaza wadaiwa wengine.

Fedha hizo zilitolewa na wahisani mbalimbali ili kuipa uwezo serikali kuimarisha uchumi wake na zilikopwa na wafanyabiashara hao kati ya mwaka 1980 hadi mwaka 1993.

Baadhi ya kampuni zilizotajwa na wakala huyo wa kukusanya madeni ni pamoja na Kiex Trading Limited inayomilikiwa na Rajab Maranda, anayetuhumiwa kuiba fedha za EPA, Dar es Salaam International School Trust Fund, Andrew Traders, K. Agencies International, Chawe Transport, Simba Resources, Shela Beach Investment na Chichi Interprises.

 

[BAK]

Twin Towers Billioni 221
CIS Billioni 199
Richmond Billioni 172
Richmond Billioni 23
Meremeta Billioni 155
EPA Billioni 133
Rada Billioni 40
Jumla Billioni 922

Wacha tubaki nyuma kimaendeleo maana mafisadi wamechota zaidi ya Shilingi Trillioni ukiweka na kashfa nyingine za ufisadi bila aibu wala woga!!!