THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
IN the latest twist to the protracted 28 million pounds sterling (approx. 70bn/-) military radar and air traffic control system purchase saga, it has now emerged that the middleman involved in the highly-suspect deal has been charged with a lesser offence of perjury rather than corruption in a Dar es Salaam court.
Details of the charge sheet related to the much-anticipated trial at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court, as seen yesterday by THISDAY, reveal that none of the three counts of criminal indictments brought against lead suspect Shailesh Pragji Vithlani is directly related to corruption.
Instead, the man who is seen as the main broker of the deal involving the alleged payment of illegal kickbacks to various officials to sanction the 2002 radar purchase by the Tanzanian Government, is only facing two counts of lying in court and one of lying to an investigating officer.
In the first count, Vithlani 'a businessman of Asian extraction and dual Tanzanian/British citizenship' is charged with committing perjury while testifying in a separate case before Magistrate Katarina Revocati at the same Kisutu court on July 25 last year.
It is alleged that he gave false testimony while under oath in court proceedings on the purchase of the military radar at a price quoted by prosecutors as equivalent to $39,972,450 (approx. 52bn/-).
The charge sheet states that Vithlani lied to the court that a company linked to the radar deal, known as Envers Trading Corporation, was owned by one Pablo J. Espino and Adelina M. Estriby, while in actual fact he himself (Vithlani) was the company's proprietor and director.
Prosecutors also alleged that Vithlani was paid $12,391,459.50 (approx. 15bn/-) as a consultancy fee, equivalent to 31 per cent of the radar purchase price, based on a contract entered between Red Diamond Trading Corporation and Envers Trading Corp.
The charge sheet does not give details about the July 2006 case before magistrate Revocati where Vithlani is alleged to have made the false statements. However, it is understood that the same magistrate has been presiding over a case in which nine people were charged with engaging in espionage and causing 200m/- worth of sabotage to a component of the same military radar system.
In that case, the accused persons - including a member of the Tanzania People's Defence Forces are alleged to have committed the offences of espionage and sabotage on June15 last year at TPDF's 691 KJ Changanyikeni military installation in Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam.
Back to the new case, where in the second count of perjury Vithlani is alleged to have, on July 28 last year, knowingly given false testimony before the same court by claiming that he was paid just $390,000 (approx. 500m/-) by the radar manufacturer BAE Systems of Britain, being only one per cent of the sale price.
Under section 102 of The Penal Code, offenders are ''liable to imprisonment for seven years'' upon conviction for each count of perjury.
In the third count, Vithlani is charged with giving false information to a senior official of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), one Kassim Ephrem.
It is alleged that on December 27 last year, at the Sea Cliff Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Vithlani lied to the PCCB official that BAE Systems paid him a commission of just one per cent for facilitating the radar deal.
According to the charge sheet, Vithlani knew this to be false information ''intended to affect the investigative measure carried out by the said Kassim Ephrem (PCCB official) in relation to the purchase process of the air traffic control system which involves the government of the United Republic of Tanzania.''
Furthermore, official court records show that although an arrest warrant against Vithlani has been issued since August 30 this year, the perjury charges against him were filed only last Thursday (November 1).
According to an announcement by PCCB spokesperson Ms Mary Mosha at a news conference in Dar es Salaam on Monday, the long-running investigations into suspected corruption in the 2002 radar deal have been concluded and Vithlani identified as one of the main suspects.
She disclosed that Vithlani has already been formally charged at the Kisutu court, albeit in absentia as he is understood to have left the country sometime ago on what appears to have become an extended trip abroad.
But in the latest surprise twist, it has now emerged that the PCCB has after all not instituted any prosecution of corruption charges against Vithlani. Instead, the charge sheet outlining perjury charges against the businessman was signed by an unnamed state attorney.