Meremeta & TANGOLD Revealed!

[Informer]

MPs quiz govt over Meremeta gold firm: Say contradictory statements from ministers raise more questions than answers

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THISDAY REPORTER
Dodoma

THE opposition camp in Parliament yesterday questioned the government over what it described as contradictions in the official statements of cabinet ministers in the National Assembly regarding the controversial Meremeta Gold Mine Company Limited.

The now defunct gold firm was the beneficiary of more than $100m paid by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to offset a huge loan from a South African bank.

The Shadow Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mohamed Habib Mnyaa (Mkanyageni - CUF), said in Parliament yesterday that Finance Minister Ms Zakia Meghji and her Energy and Minerals counterpart Nazir Karamagi had made contradicting statements with regard to Meremeta.

Quoting official parliamentary hansard records, Mnyaa noted that while Ms Meghji told the House that the Meremeta gold project was in the final process of “winding up”, Karamagi later declared before the same House that the government had bought 100 per cent of the companys shares.

Reading the opposition camps rejoinder to the 2007/08 budget proposals of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the MP asked the government to explain the contradictions and come clean on the deal.

These contradicting government statements are worrisome...if the government has indeed bought the company (Meremeta), then we should be told who were the original owners and why was the gold mine under the control of the TPDF (Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces)” he queried.

He added: These are the questions that still remain unanswered and have caused grumblings and protests among Tanzanians through the governments failure to give direct answers.

Before being liquidated, Meremeta Gold Mine was registered as a joint venture company owned on a 50-50 basis by the Tanzanian government and a private company called Trinnex (Pty) Limited.

Investigations by THISDAY have already established that the Bank of Tanzania made dubious payments of over $118m (approx. 150bn/-) to a foreign bank to liquidate a loan issued to the company.

According to our sources, the central bank made the suspect payments to South Africas Nedbank through the New York-based HSB Bank, after the company filed for bankruptcy.

It has been further revealed that BoT paid an additional $13.34m (approx. 17bn/-) to another bank account under the name of TANGOLD, at the National Bank of Commerce Limited Corporate Branch in Dar es Salaam.

According to Karamagi, assets and liabilities of Meremeta Gold Mine - including the Buhemba Gold Mine in Mara Region - were transferred to TANGOLD, a new company wholly owned by the government.

Government sources say that BoT purchased a controversial 155bn/- Treasury bond and later exchanged the amount for US dollar currency, which was used to effect the suspect payments to Meremeta and TANGOLD.

It remains unclear why the government through the central bank - decided to clear the loan on behalf of Meremeta Gold Mine Co. Ltd after it became bankrupt, instead of Nedbank filing its claim directly to the liquidator.

On the mining sector in general, Mnyaa said a recent gold audit report by Alex Stewart Assayers had uncovered massive cheating by mining firms in the country to the tune of billions of US dollars.

He sought explanations from the government on progress made thus far in the presidential-sanctioned review of all controversial mining contracts.

Regarding tanzanite mining activities in Arusha Region, Mnyaa said it was a national shame that the country continues to earn meagre revenues from export sales of a valuable gemstone that is uniquely Tanzanian.

He quoted 2005 global export figures showing that out of total annual sales figures for tanzanite gemstones amounting to $400m, Tanzania received a mere $16m.

 

[Informer]

TANGOLD deal: The inside story
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- The TANGOLD Ltd constitution gives each of them the right to transfer individual company shares to family members.

-Company said to be state-owned, but registered offshore in Mauritius
Constitution includes some very interesting provisions

THISDAY REPORTER
Dodoma

MORE details are emerging about TANGOLD Limited, a supposedly government-owned enterprise which is understood to have been the beneficiary of a highly-questionable $13.34m (approx. 17bn/-) payment from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) within the past year.

Investigations by THISDAY have now verified that TANGOLD Limited was registered as an offshore company in Port Louis, Mauritius in April 2005, with at least five top government functionaries listed as directors.

They included the BoT governor, Dr Daudi Ballali, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Gray Mgonja, who both still retain the same positions todate despite a government changeover in the interim.

Others were the then attorney-general Andrew Chenge; the then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Patrick Rutabanzibwa; and the then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Livestock Development, Vincent Mrisho. All three company directors have since been transferred to other posts in the present fourth phase government.

In the case of Rutabanzibwa and Mrisho, they are now permanent secretaries in the Ministry of Water and the Prime Minister’s Office, respectively. As for Chenge, he is now Minister for Infrastructure Development.

According to the findings of earlier THISDAY investigations, the BoT paid $13.34m (approx. 17bn/-) into a bank account under the name of TANGOLD Limited, at the National Bank of Commerce Limited Corporate Branch in Dar es Salaam. This came on the heels of another BoT payment to a foreign bank account, amounting to over $118m (approx. 150bn/-), to liquidate a loan issued to the now-defunct Meremeta Gold Mine company.

The current Minister for Energy and Minerals, Nazir Karamagi, stated in parliament recently that all assets and liabilities of Meremeta Gold - including the Buhemba Gold Mine in Mara Region - had been transferred to TANGOLD Limited, which he described as ’’a new company wholly-owned by the Tanzanian Government.’’

The BoT is now understood to have dished out the 150bn/- as part of the process of ’liquidating’ the Meremeta Gold company, which nevertheless was in fact a joint venture project owned on a 50-50 basis by the Tanzanian government and a private South African firm going by the name of Trinnex (Pty) Limited.

Our latest investigations show that after its registration in Mauritius, TANGOLD Limited opened a branch in Dar es Salaam the following year and received a certificate of compliance from the Business Registration and Licensing Authority (BRELA) in February 2006.

But official records state the registered office address of the supposedly government-owned company continues to be Suite 520, Barkly Wharf, Le Caudan, Waterfront in Port Louis, Mauritius, while its stated capital is $100,000 (approx. 130m/-).

Furthermore, despite minister Karamagi’s claims that TANGOLD Limited is wholly government -owned, the company’s constitution has provisions that give its directors - Ballali, Chenge, Mgonja, Rutabanzibwa and Mrisho - the right to transfer their shares to family members.

According to a section in the TANGOLD Limited constitution directly pertaining to family transactions: ’’Any share may be transferred by a shareholder to, or to trustees for, the spouse, father, mother, child, grandchild, son-in-law or daughter-in-law of that shareholder; and any share of a deceased shareholder may be transferred by his executors or administrators to the spouse, father, mother, child, grandchild, son-in-law or daughter-in-law of the deceased shareholder.’’

It remains unclear why the ’government’ decided to register the company in Mauritius, and give the five officials complete liberty to transfer their individual ownerships of the firm to their wives, children, in-laws or other family members.

In another development, records also show that the London and Nasdaq stock exchange-listed RANDGOLD Resources - incorporated in the Channel Islands - announced in August 2005 that it had signed a joint venture agreement with the Tanzanian Government to develop new mineral deposits in the country.

According to the company’s media statement at the time, the deal was known as the ’’Tangold agreement’’ and related to a specific area of interest, this being ’’the Kiabakari Maji, which covers 2,692 square kilometres around the Buhemba mine but not the mine itself.’’

 

[Kasana]

Mh,..
Kungekuwa na magazeti ya kiswahili yanaandika habari za namna hii kasi ya kuelekea ukombozi wa kweli ingeongezeka.

Mungu ibariki Tanzania,
Mungu ibariki Africa,
Wabariki na walala hoi wake.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

Daudi Balali Gavana wa Benki Kuu kuidhinisha malipo kwa Kampuni ambayo yeye ni Mkurugenzi.. kweli siyo hoja inayojitaji majibu?

 

[Dua]

Daudi Balali Gavana wa Benki Kuu kuidhinisha malipo kwa Kampuni ambayo yeye ni Mkurugenzi.. kweli siyo hoja inayojitaji majibu?

Rais bado anatafuta ushahidi kutoka kwa E & Y kuona kwamba ile likuwa sahihi yake halali.

 

[Shalom]

Ndipo hapo unapomshangaa mtu kama kingunge anapoamua kwenda kuwaface watanzania na kuwaambia hizi ni story tu hazina ukweli. NI lazima nguna kitu anatumia au tegemea huyu mtu kama mtu huwezi mwenyewe kuthubutu kufanya hivyo. Hii ni nguvu ya ziada naona lucifer ni mhusika

 

[kausha]

hivi huu ni wizi au dhuruma,ujambazi au unyaganyi,nani anaweza kuzuia uchafu huu utajiri wote wa nini hawa watu utafikiri hawatakufa wakaviacha jamani ogopa mungu anaona myafanyayo hata kama mko juu ya uwezo wa serikali kuwashughurikia iko siku watanzania watachoka na mali mnayojilimbikizia haitawafaa kitu

 

[BAK]

Daudi Balali Gavana wa Benki Kuu kuidhinisha malipo kwa Kampuni ambayo yeye ni Mkurugenzi.. kweli siyo hoja inayohitaji majibu?

Mkjj, we acha tu. Wizi wa mchana kweupe! wanadai TANGOLD iko wholly owned na siri kali! Itakuwaje kampuni ambayo ni wholly owned na siri kali ikaandikishwe nje ya nchi!?...
Wamegundua kuna loopholes nyingi ambazo zitawanufaisha hao wakurugenzi kwa kuiandikisha kampuni nje ya nchi badala ya Tanzania kama vile kodi n.k.

 

[Dua]

Hivi hawa wanapokula chakula na watoto wao mezani huwa wanawaambia watoto wao kitu gani? Kwamba WTZ wote ni wajinga hawana uwezo kwa lolote na wao ni wafalme? Ipo siku ya siku hata Mobutu siku aliyoondoka Kinshasa makambo alikuwa anaota hivi hivi.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

Kuna watu wanatakiwa wawe Keko au Maweni... ndio maana Rais anakwepa waandishi wa Bongo hapa US... wamebakia kutoa ripoti tu..tunaomba mahojiano na Rais kabla hajaondoka....

 

[Shalom]

Mwanakijiji,

Unaomba wakati uko USA? Mimi nimeshuhudia Bush akiwa anapita sehemu watu wanashout hoja zao ndiyo ije kikwete a. Kuomba ni huku bongo hebu nendeni mkiwa hata wanne tu na mabango yenu mtapata coverage ya kutosha na huenda mkaokoa mamilioni ya watanzania wanaokufa huku. Mfuateni kokote kule aliko tunawaomba jamani?

 

[BAK]

Kuna watu wanatakiwa wawe Keko au Maweni... ndio maana Rais anakwepa waandishi wa Bongo hapa US... wamebakia kutoa ripoti tu..tunaomba mahojiano na Rais kabla hajaondoka....

Hata kukutana na Watanzania hataki! Anajua watu wana maswali kibao kuhusiana na tuhuma mbali mbali za wizi, rushwa na ubadhirifu ndani ya siri kali, na akitoa majibu yake ya kisanii wanaweza pia kumzomea! Mtawakimbia Watanzania mpaka lini!?

 

[Dua]

Mwanakijiji,

Unaomba wakati uko USA? Mimi nimeshuhudia Bush akiwa anapita sehemu watu wanashout hoja zao ndiyo ije kikwete a. Kuomba ni huku bongo hebu nendeni mkiwa hata wanne tu na mabango yenu mtapata coverage ya kutosha na huenda mkaokoa mamilioni ya watanzania wanaokufa huku. Mfuateni kokote kule aliko tunawaomba jamani?

Hata mimi najilaumu sana alipokuja hapa kwetu tugembebea mabango ndio angejua tuna uchungu na nchi yetu. Tena huku nje rahisi sana huyu lazima apewe joto ya jiwe, na maandishi makubwa ya Richmonduli, Buzwagi, Barrick, BOT, Balali etc mnaingia nayo kwenye ukumbi wa mkutano.

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

Hivi hakuna hata mtu anayejua hoteli aliyofikia huko new york au ni pale pale Paris something..

 

[Rwabugiri]

Hata mimi najilaumu sana alipokuja hapa kwetu tugembebea mabango ndio angejua tuna uchungu na nchi yetu. Tena huku nje rahisi sana huyu lazima apewe joto ya jiwe, na maandishi makubwa ya Richmonduli, Buzwagi, Barrick, BOT, Balali etc mnaingia nayo kwenye ukumbi wa mkutano.

Yaani nimecheka mpaka basi!

Jamani mtamuua muungwana bure na pressue ugenini? Yaani atasema jamani mabango yamenifata hadi huku?

But well it is a very good idea I think! na huko hamna cha polisi kuwaweka ndani!

 

[Kalimanzira]

Yaani nimecheka mpaka basi!

Jamani mtamuua muungwana bure na pressue ugenini? Yaani atasema jamani mabango yamenifata hadi huku?

But well it is a very good idea I think! na huko hamna cha polisi kuwaweka ndani!

Wabebeeni mabango ndiyo njia pekee ya kujikomboa katika minyororo hii ya umaskini ambayo wanataka kutunyonga nayo tukiwa hai bila hata kutuonea huruma. Ukifuatilia kwa makini mambo wanayotufanyia afadhali hata ya mkoloni. Maana baadhi ya nyenzo zake bado tunazifaidi, kuliko hawa manyang'au wenzetu.

 

[Koba]

...damn these mofos now are talking and walking like the kings of World now that gold price is soaring...

Tanzanians people themselves see not a dime of the cash...

 

[Katibu Tarafa]

kwa hili la bango hata mimi nitajitokeza sijui kama atapita hapa wakati anarudi,tupeane taarifa niandae bango langu kabisa.huku hakuna noma kabisa ni kama kumsukuma mlevi.

 

[Rev. Kishoka]

http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/21042003/Regional/Regional2104200315.html


What is this Meremeta thing? Mara ni chombo cha Jeshi mara ni mali ya Benki Kuu.

Since when jeshi became a mining company?

Was it part of compromise by Serikali kuu to make sure that just like before when Jeshi and Ulinzi were looting Hazina, we will coninue to have Amani, Utulivu na Mshikamano?

Here is what I see after reading this news clip from EastAfrican and relate to Orodha ya mafisadi:Kipengele cha pili kuhusiana na Balali.

Kama conspiracy theorist, I am tempted to say that Jeshi went to Mkapa asking for extra operation and expenses money or to run some covert operations. This must have been as soon as Mkapa became a president.

When Mkapa became a president, Taifa was at hali mbaya, focus of Mkapa was to pay off the debts, increase tax collection and fund special projects such as education, health and barabara as part of kujenga MKUKUTA.

The problem as I see is that Jeshi needed money to feed its old habits. Jeshi is a beast! they need operation money that gets approved with Bunge and expenses money to calm down vijana wasichafue hali ya hewa like 1964!

Majiniasi created a scheme to form a mining company Meremeta. They founded a financial and equity firm that had money; Triennex which funded the project to explore Dhahabu (how can you go to hazina to get funding for a covert operation?) which was in Jeshi's property (ardhi Geita/Buhemba).

Thus Meremeta became a joint venture between Triennex (which provided capital only and had no interest in the revenue than a return of their capital and interest) and Jeshi (which owned the land). Since this was covert operation (scheme) it makes sense why the company (Meremeta) was registered in UK and no local lawyers or such were used (siri).

When everything fell apart in 2001. Jeshi failed to run the project and thus Hazina had to bail out Jeshi and Meremeta. Then Bilali became CEO of Meremeta on his capacity as Gavana with all guys from Hazina, Madini and other places. Mzigo wa Jeshi ukawa Mzigo wa Taifa.

The money that was remitted by BOT in amount of $118.4 mil, was to repay the equity investment (principal and interest) to Triennex!

Sasa mshike mshike is that pesa zimelipia covert operation, it has become public and we wonder why would Serikali own a company registered outside of Tanzania and Watanzania will continue to wonder why BOT and Hazina own a Kampuni ya Madini!

From this perspective, Slaa and Zimbwe will lose to pursue their case and demands for documentation. Bilali and others who know the real deals will come out untouched. Question remains, what happened to the initial investment (capital) by Triennex? what happened to Dhahabu explored? why no one at Jeshi is being held accountable (kumbuka operations of Meremeta Project were 100% Jeshi)?

Then we need to ask ourselves, what are we "consipracy theorist" going to find on Mwananchi Green, Tan Gold and other schemes that make our politicians and technocrats look like "wahujumu na mafisadi"?

In search of TanGold related news and business.....

 

[Mzee Mwanakijiji]

In search of TanGold related news and business.....

mzee hapa naona unaanza kuunganisha dots ambazo hazijaunganishwa bado na hivyo tunazidi kupata picha ya jinsi dili nzima ilivyokwenda. Hivi inawezekana kuwa CCM waliamua kusema Meremeta (Glittering) ni mali ya Jeshi ili kunyamazisha watu? Hivi mpango wa JWTZ kujihusisha na Madini ulitangazwa kwenye kikao gani cha Bunge au nalo ni la usalama wa taifa? Halafu kama Meremeta ni ya jeshi, na Jeshi hilo ni la Watanzania, mbona kampuni isajiliwe Uingereza? HIvi hiyo meremeta ilifilisika vipi?