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No request yet from Tanzana's Govt on ‘Swiss billions'
Attorney General Frederick Werema.PHOTO|FILE By Mkinga Mkinga and Agencies
Posted Wednesday, July 9 2014 at 09:25
Dar es Salaam.
Nearly four months since a French judge offered a clue on how to get the list of people who have stashed away billions of shillings in foreign bank accounts, the government has yet to lodge a formal request, The Citizen has learnt.
The French judge, Mr Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who chaired the investigation into offshore accounts held by French citizens two years ago, has data that includes details on Tanzanians said to have huge sums of money in offshore accounts.
However, almost four months after Mr Ruymbeke stated what needs to be done to access the details, the task force has yet to respond positively in what would have been a huge step towards shedding more light on the Swiss billions.
Instead, the Tanzanian officials were yesterday quoted by Reuters as saying they were still seeking help from Switzerland in investigating stolen government assets and illicit money stashed in offshore bank accounts-two years after a parliamentary inquiry first called for action.
The French judge advised Tanzanian authorities to forward a formal request to France's Ministry of Justice. Once this is done, the task force would immediately be provided with relevant information regarding money stashed away by individuals based in Tanzania.
"I can say that documents can be provided to a judicial authority on the basis of an international request that has to be sent to the French Ministry of Justice (the desk is the BEPI); then the BEPI sends the request to me and my colleague Charlotte Bilger as the judges in charge of the investigations," Mr Ruymbeke wrote in response to an email sent to him by Kigoma North MP Zitto Kabwe.
In March, Mr Kabwe, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which oversees government finances, sent an email to judges investigating the matter.
He said Parliament passed a resolution in 2012 to investigate Tanzanians with offshore bank accounts and who evade taxes in Tanzania.
"It is to my knowledge that you have data about this as regards to HSBC clients and it is my understanding that you are pursuing the same case in France," reads part of Mr Zitto's communication
Yesterday, Attorney General Frederick Werema told Reuters that the government was working with the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), a technical advisory group based in Basel, Switzerland, to investigate several cases of fraud, bribery and corruption where money may have been secretly funneled overseas.
"We cannot disclose names of anybody because by doing so we will be infringing their rights. Secondly, we may decide to name them but what if the accusations against them turn out to be untrue? And thirdly, if we disclose their names, we will be tampering with our own evidence," he said. In 2012, a parliamentary inquiry advised the government to investigate public sector corruption and establish who might be hiding millions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth in foreign bank accounts.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the Washington-based group that tracks illicit flows, estimated that $4.5 billion in illicit money has left Tanzania over the last decade, and the annual pace has accelerated to $817 million by 2011, the latest year for which data is available, from $ 551 million in 2002.
However, the amount of money that Tanzanians keep in Swiss bank accounts continues to expand. Holdings rose 42 per cent to CHF 270.97 million ($304.2 million) in 2013, from CHF 190.58 million ($213.4 million) the previous year, according to Swiss central bank data. Switzerland is a favorite location for the wealthy to hold money due to its stable currency, generally low taxes and a long tradition of bank secrecy.
It is not only money lost from public corruption. Mr Kabwe said last October that the country was losing about $1.25 billion a year in budget revenues, equivalent to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product, through corporate tax avoidance, evasion and corruption – money needed for healthcare, education and infrastructure.
ICAR helps officials from developing countries to trace, confiscate and repatriate the proceeds of corruption, money laundering and related crimes. It declined to comment on whether it is working for the Tanzanian government.
"We provide technical assistance to a range of law enforcement agencies in various countries around the world, through training and case related assistance, liaising with foreign jurisdictions where required," said ICAR Director Gretta Zinkernagel in an e-mail sent to Reuters.
The centre is an arm of the Basel Institute on Governance, which is headed by Mr Mark Pieth, respected for his work in enforcing the international accord on foreign bribery known as the Anti-Bribery Convention for 15 years when he was head of the OECD's Working Group on Bribery.
Attorney General Frederick Werema.PHOTO|FILE By Mkinga Mkinga and Agencies
Posted Wednesday, July 9 2014 at 09:25
Dar es Salaam.
Nearly four months since a French judge offered a clue on how to get the list of people who have stashed away billions of shillings in foreign bank accounts, the government has yet to lodge a formal request, The Citizen has learnt.
The French judge, Mr Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who chaired the investigation into offshore accounts held by French citizens two years ago, has data that includes details on Tanzanians said to have huge sums of money in offshore accounts.
However, almost four months after Mr Ruymbeke stated what needs to be done to access the details, the task force has yet to respond positively in what would have been a huge step towards shedding more light on the Swiss billions.
Instead, the Tanzanian officials were yesterday quoted by Reuters as saying they were still seeking help from Switzerland in investigating stolen government assets and illicit money stashed in offshore bank accounts-two years after a parliamentary inquiry first called for action.
The French judge advised Tanzanian authorities to forward a formal request to France's Ministry of Justice. Once this is done, the task force would immediately be provided with relevant information regarding money stashed away by individuals based in Tanzania.
"I can say that documents can be provided to a judicial authority on the basis of an international request that has to be sent to the French Ministry of Justice (the desk is the BEPI); then the BEPI sends the request to me and my colleague Charlotte Bilger as the judges in charge of the investigations," Mr Ruymbeke wrote in response to an email sent to him by Kigoma North MP Zitto Kabwe.
In March, Mr Kabwe, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which oversees government finances, sent an email to judges investigating the matter.
He said Parliament passed a resolution in 2012 to investigate Tanzanians with offshore bank accounts and who evade taxes in Tanzania.
"It is to my knowledge that you have data about this as regards to HSBC clients and it is my understanding that you are pursuing the same case in France," reads part of Mr Zitto's communication
Yesterday, Attorney General Frederick Werema told Reuters that the government was working with the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), a technical advisory group based in Basel, Switzerland, to investigate several cases of fraud, bribery and corruption where money may have been secretly funneled overseas.
"We cannot disclose names of anybody because by doing so we will be infringing their rights. Secondly, we may decide to name them but what if the accusations against them turn out to be untrue? And thirdly, if we disclose their names, we will be tampering with our own evidence," he said. In 2012, a parliamentary inquiry advised the government to investigate public sector corruption and establish who might be hiding millions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth in foreign bank accounts.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the Washington-based group that tracks illicit flows, estimated that $4.5 billion in illicit money has left Tanzania over the last decade, and the annual pace has accelerated to $817 million by 2011, the latest year for which data is available, from $ 551 million in 2002.
However, the amount of money that Tanzanians keep in Swiss bank accounts continues to expand. Holdings rose 42 per cent to CHF 270.97 million ($304.2 million) in 2013, from CHF 190.58 million ($213.4 million) the previous year, according to Swiss central bank data. Switzerland is a favorite location for the wealthy to hold money due to its stable currency, generally low taxes and a long tradition of bank secrecy.
It is not only money lost from public corruption. Mr Kabwe said last October that the country was losing about $1.25 billion a year in budget revenues, equivalent to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product, through corporate tax avoidance, evasion and corruption – money needed for healthcare, education and infrastructure.
ICAR helps officials from developing countries to trace, confiscate and repatriate the proceeds of corruption, money laundering and related crimes. It declined to comment on whether it is working for the Tanzanian government.
"We provide technical assistance to a range of law enforcement agencies in various countries around the world, through training and case related assistance, liaising with foreign jurisdictions where required," said ICAR Director Gretta Zinkernagel in an e-mail sent to Reuters.
The centre is an arm of the Basel Institute on Governance, which is headed by Mr Mark Pieth, respected for his work in enforcing the international accord on foreign bribery known as the Anti-Bribery Convention for 15 years when he was head of the OECD's Working Group on Bribery.
