Govt softens stand on mega scandals
By Damas Kanyabwoya, Dodoma
THE CITIZEN
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda yesterday admitted that the EPA and Richmond scandals are the toughest challenges the Kikwete Government has ever faced since it came to power with an overwhelming mandate and a firm pledge to fight grand corruption.
Mr Pinda, addressing a press conference in Dodoma, called for public patience, saying the EPA and Richmond rip-offs, in which the State lost billions of shillings, are very complicated and, therefore, the Government should go about them slowly and carefully.
He said though the Richmond saga had been made easier to tackle, thanks to the Harrison Mwakyembe-led parliamentary select committee's investigation and report, the Sh133 billion EPA thefts through fraudulent payments from the Bank of Tanzania, was more difficult to deal with.
Yesterday, for the first time since the controversial $179 million contract for generation of emergency power was revealed in Parliament in February, Richmond Development Company placed an advertisement in a newspaper defending its supposed legality and credibility.
Reacting to the development, Prime Minister Pinda said the resurfacing of the company to claim its legality and the statements of legal counsel Cuthbert Tenga was an indication that the matter was far from over.
The apparent official confession by the Premier comes amid growing public anxiety on the whereabouts of real culprits behind the EPA scandal that has eroded the credibility of the Central Bank.
Mr Pinda cautioned the media and the public, saying they should not expect easy and quick answers on the EPA scandal.
According to Mr Pinda, the EPA deal was still very sensitive as the controversial transactions in the debt buy-back programme in which private companies were allowed to buy government debt was mainly executed by rich people.
These people have a lot of money. Imagine how difficult it is to convict someone who has at his disposal Sh40 billion earned without a sweat. He can do anything to win the case and we might find ourselves in a position where we lose the case and the money, Premier Pinda told the fully packed press conference.
Revealing the names of those returning the stolen money or even arresting them when the investigations were still going on would be disastrous for the whole case as it might disrupt the evidence, Mr Pinda added.
The Prime Minister hinted that the money being recovered might even be used as evidence in court against the culprits when the investigations are completed.
The premier's remarks cast a bleak future to the ongoing investigations in the EPA saga, which is being undertaken by a special task force appointed by President Kikwete in January to dig up more information to help the State institute criminal charges against the suspects.
Early in January, the State released a summary of the EPA audit done by Ernst and Young, showing how 22 companies fraudulently pocketed a total of Sh133 billion.
According to the audit report, of those involved, 13 local companies got Sh90, 359,078,804 using forged documents during the 2005/6 financial year. The report also showed that another nine companies were irregularly paid Sh42 billion without having any supporting documents to justify the payments.
Following the report, President Kikwete sacked Dr Daudi Ballali as BoT Governor on January 9, amid controversial reports about his whereabouts as well as his health.
The task force in March claimed that it had recovered about Sh60 billion of the looted billions, but came under strong criticism from lawyers and opposition leaders, who urged the investigators to name those who had reportedly returned the money.
Richmond saga
Speaking on the Richmond scandal, Mr Pinda said the task force formed in mid February to advise the Government on how to implement the 23 recommendations made by the Mwakyembe parliamentary committee had completed its work.
The premier said he would issue an interim report if asked by the Speaker of the National Assembly during the ongoing session.
He said there are no clear guidelines on how to handle emergencies, giving room to senior public servants and political leaders to violate procurement regulations.
Because it was an emergency, consultations were made at the highest level of government, a green light was given to hire the company (Richmond) and then the public officials might defend themselves, saying that they were just following orders in implementing what the Government wanted. Just talk to any lawyer and he or she will tell you how difficult it is to charge negligence as a crime, Mr Pinda said.
He said the Attorney-General and director general of Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau seemed implicated because of lack of functional capacity of their staff in their respective offices. That is why it is very difficult to take disciplinary measures against PCCB boss Edward Hosea and AG John Mwanyika.
Mr Pinda said confiscating the properties of those associated with Richmond Company was difficult and would have to be done according to the laws and regulations.
The Mwakyembe had recommended the deregistration of the Richmond Company in Tanzania, the arrest and prosecution of suspects scam as well as disciplinary action against the officials involved.
These included the AG, the director general of PCCB, permanent secretary of the ministry of energy and Minerals and other senior officials, stopping the payment of the daily capacity charges of Sh152 million.