Mhh ni habari nzito na inahusu watu wazito.
Tatizo hapo ni kama kutakuwa na mafanikio katika "extradition process". Hatujui bwana Sailesh Vithlani ana uwezo gani kwa kuzingatia kwamba yeye ni raia wa Uingereza na pia ana makazi ya kudumu nchini UK.
Je kuna mwanasheria yeyote hapa ambae anafahamu mambo haya ya extradition treaties?, maana yapo complex na yanaweza kusukuma miaka.
Hata hivyo nina matumaini kwamba Tanzania ni mwanachama wa Commonwealth na kutokana na hayo Extradition Act ya mwaka 1989 ukarasa wa 33 itafuatwa.
Vithlani extradition any time from now: Last piece of jigsaw puzzle now in place
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
FUGITIVE businessman Shailesh Pragji Vithlani, who is reportedly now in the custody of British authorities, could be extradited to Tanzania as early as this week to face clear-cut corruption charges linked to the 28 million pounds sterling (approx. 58bn/-) military radar transaction scandal.
The last piece of the jigsaw puzzle has finally slipped into place, declared an official close to the radar deal investigation when commenting about the 44-year-old Vithlanis long-awaited arrest.
It is understood that he was arrested in the UK after spending several years in hiding in Switzerland - moving from one hotel to another.
Tanzanian authorities have known for quite some time now that Vithlani was in Switzerland...but they never filed any extradition request, said the official.
Since investigators in Tanzania and the UK have been cooperating and in close touch all along, it was easy for British authorities to arrest the wanted fugitive when he visited the UK, the official added.
The Mwanza-born Vithlani is thought to have been travelling with both Tanzanian and British passports, although Tanzanian laws prohibit such kind of dual citizenship.
He has already been brought before the Kisutu residents magistrates court in Dar es Salaam to answer to charges of perjury and lying to an investigating officer regarding his middleman role in the 2002 purchase of the dubious radar system by the third phase government of ex-president Benjamin Mkapa.
However, his arrest by Britains Serious Fraud Office (SFO) means that the home-based Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) can finally file straightforward corruption charges against him and several other prominent suspects.
Last week, well-placed sources revealed to THISDAY that a major breakthrough had been made in the radar deal investigation, and the SFO was expected to deliver a sensitive package to the PCCB in Dar es Salaam within a few days.
Our sources now say the SFO is set to present Vithlani along with other investigation findings to PCCB this week.
It could not be immediately established if SFO detectives will escort Vithlani directly to Tanzania or the PCCB will send its own officers to London to bring the fugitive businessman in.
Initial reports suggested that Vithlani would be arriving in Dar es Salaam yesterday morning under police escort aboard a British Airways flight BA 046.
However, he was not among passengers who disembarked from the BA plane that landed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport at 6.50 am.
Interestingly, among the passengers on the BA flight was the proprietor of the Dar es Salaam-based Shivacom Group, Tanil Somaiya, who has also been officially named by the SFO as one of the key suspects in the radar deal investigation.
Somaiya is a close friend and former business partner of Vithlani. According to SFO findings, both of them were directly linked with Merlin International Ltd and the offshore Envers Trading Corporation company, which received illegal payments from the UK-based radar-selling firm BAE Systems to facilitate the transaction.
BAE paid a whopping $12m (approx. 15bn/-) in illegal kickbacks used to bribe top Government officials in the Mkapa administration to approve the dubious deal.
Both Vithlani and Somaiya were in 2006 questioned under oath by SFO detectives in Dar es Salaam regarding their roles in the radar deal.
Vithlani later skipped the country to avoid prosecution, while Somaiya has since claimed he is an innocent man in the whole affair.
Along with these two, other prominent named suspects in the radar investigation include former attorney general Andrew Chenge and ex-Bank of Tanzania governor Dr Idris Rashidi.
Following the arrest of Vithlani, the PCCB is expected to file a fresh request to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for consent to allow the long-delayed prosecution of the radar case to go ahead.
The DPP, Eliezer Feleshi, has previously withheld his consent on grounds that the case file was still lacking sufficient evidence for a credible indictment of the suspects.
Zitachezwa ngonjera tu hakuna lolote. Ooh Basil Mramba, Daniel Yona na wengine wafikishwa mahakamani.........Kama upelelezi umekamilika kwa nini kesi hazimalizwi na majaji ndo wanazidi kuteuliwa na kuapishwa??????????
Tuko hapa, watacheza ngonjera ili watanzania wasahau......tulishazoea U-TP wa SISIEMU.
Hapo ndio tutaona maigizo ya hosea na feleshi....na uchaguzi huoooo.....tuone....
Hakika ni maigizo. Huyu Vithlani aliwahi kukamatwa, akamtaja Somaiya kama mhusika, akashitakiwa na baadae kuachiwa na akatokomea majuu. Bila shaka alitoa hongo kwa watu wa PCCP na DPP.
Atahonga tena ili asiletwe, hiyo ni 100%. Viongozi wa serikali ya CCM hawana mbinu dhidi ya hela -- kwao ni ibada.
Lakini nasikia mara hii JK amekuwa cornered na wafadhili, hana pa kutokea. Hawafungui pochi hadi kieleweke katika masuala ya ufisadi -- hawataki ngonjera. Bila ya kuona watu wa radar, Kagoda na wengine kizimbani hakuna fedha. Wamempa kavu, loud and clear.
EEE Mola wangu. Furaha kwangu itakuwaje nikisikia babu wa vijisenti kaswekwa Keko kula dona. Hiyo party nitakayoandaa. wana-JF (wale tu wanaopinga ufisadi humu ndani) nitawaomba mob No zenu tujumuike pamoja. I mean it, I really do!
Lol!sasa huyu alikuwa 'middle-man'',tungewaarrest na wale waliokuwa wanampa deal INGEKUWA POA