Ex-partner of radar fugitive donates 400m/- to CCM
THIS DAY
TANIL Somaiya, a former business partner of radar fugitive Shailesh Vithlani, has donated more than 400m/- towards the upcoming national election of the Chama Cha Mapinduzis youth wing (CCM-VIJANA).
Somaiya presented various election materials to be used in the VIJANA national leadership polls worth hundreds of millions of shillings.
The election materials, worth an estimated 400m/-, were handed over to CCM in Dodoma yesterday, where the ruling party held its national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
According to reports from Dodoma, the businessman presented his donation at the CCM headquarters in the designated capital.
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has been investigating a customs bonded warehouse owned by one of the companies under the Shivacom Group in Dar es Salaam on allegations of tax fraud.
The company linked to Somaiya, Incar (Tanzania) Limited, was among a total of 22 bonded warehouses recently shut down indefinitely by TRA.
Incar (T) Ltd, the local agent of the Italian-made IVECO vehicles, had previously won a hugely controversial tender to supply hundreds of military trucks and buses to the Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces (TPDF).
Somaiya and Vithlani have both been questioned under oath at the Kisutu Resident Magistrates Court in Dar es Salaam over their alleged connections with the radar corruption scandal.
Both businessmen admitted that they had power of attorney - a legal instrument used to delegate legal authority to them - to act on behalf of Envers Trading Corporation, a company alleged to have received illegal kickbacks for the radar transaction.
According to investigators, Envers Trading Corp. was paid $12m (approx. 15bn/-) by Red Diamond Trading, another shadowy company set up in the British Virgin Islands in 1998 by a firm linked to Britains BAE Systems, manufacturers of the overpriced air traffic control system sold to former President Benjamin Mkapas government in 2002.
When subjected to questioning by British detectives, Somaiya admitted that he was given power of attorney over Envers Trading Corp. for a period of 11 months.
But he insisted that he had no other involvement with the company, and was not even aware of the companys official location.
Official documents from the Kisutu resident magistrates court in Dar es Salaam show that the courtroom grilling of both Vithlani and Somaiya was conducted in 2006 by assistant detective sergeant Steve Rosenthal of Britains Ministry of Defence Police and another investigator from the UKs Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Carl Brown.
The two were interrogated under oath before Kisutu Resident Magistrate Katarina Revocati on two separate occasions - July 25 and July 28, 2006.
At the time of the interrogation, Somaiya admitted he was a co-owner of the city-based Merlin International company with Vithlani, whom he described as his very good friend.
Shailesh Vithlani is a very good friend of mine. He is also a director of Merlin International. I dont know if he is the owner of Envers Trading ... I transferred to him the power of attorney. I dont know whether he is the owner, the court documents quote Somaiya as saying during questioning.
On his part, Vithlani told the court in his sworn testimony that he was running Merlin International as a consultancy firm with other owners ... one (of them) is Tanil Somaiya.
Vithlani has since been charged at the Kisutu court with committing perjury and making false statements to an investigating officer, with prosecutors alleging that he lied about not being the owner of Envers Trading and about receiving a $390,000 commission for the radar deal while he was actually paid $12m.
The fugitive businessman was charged in absentia and remains at large, despite an international arrest warrant issued for him.
According to THISDAY investigations, Somaiya informed the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) through his lawyers that he ceased being a shareholder and director of Merlin International on January 8, 2007.
However, despite reportedly severing all his business ties with Vithlani, Somaiya was business a partner with the wanted fugitive at the time the radar deal was concluded. It remains uncertain whether or not authorities consider him a formal suspect in the ongoing radar investigation.