Bail relief at last for Mramba, Yona...but not until next week
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es salaam
DESPITE a High Court ruling issued in their favour late yesterday ordering the lower Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court to relax their bail conditions, former government ministers Basil Mramba and Daniel Yona will still have to spend the entire weekend at the Keko Remand Prison in Dar es Salaam.
There was much despair among relatives of the two once-powerful ministers of the third phase government of ex-president Benjamin Mkapa as the High Court in Dar es Salaam effectively confirmed their continued incarceration until Monday, which is the earliest they will now be able to process bail at the Kisutu court under less stringent conditions.
Ruling in favour of an application filed by lawyers for both Mramba and Yona, High Court Judge Njegafibili Mwaikugile said the tough bail conditions set by the lower court earlier this week should be changed.
While the Kisutu court had demanded that the two accused persons deposit at least 3.9bn/- in cash each, Judge Mwaikugile's ruling reduced this figure to 2.9bn/- and also allowed for the deposition of title deeds on immovable property with such a value, instead of cash.
However, the High Court judge dismissed a request by defence lawyers to waive the bail condition that prohibits both Mramba and Yona from traveling outside Dar es Salaam during the entire duration of the trial.
Judge Mwaikugile also upheld the condition set by the Kisutu court that the two ex-ministers surrender their passports and produce two reliable sureties who will each sign a 2.9bn/- bond.
Although the two accused and their relatives/friends in the court-room appeared vividly pleased with the relaxed bail conditions ordered by the judge, their joy was short-lived following the realization that time was not on their side.
According to court officials, there was simply not enough time to verify the authenticity of the title deeds produced by the two former ministers before the official close of court business yesterday.
The news must have been particularly bitter for Mramba (68), who was today scheduled to see off his daughter at her wedding ceremony in Dar es Salaam, but instead will now have to spend the whole weekend behind bars.
The two ex-ministers were arraigned before the Kisutu court on Tuesday this week to answer charges of allegedly extending a controversial contract with Alex Stewart (Assayers) Government Business Corporation and granting dubious tax exemptions to the gold auditing company, thus causing a loss of more than 11.75bn/- to the nation.
The charges stem from a period between 2002 and 2005, when Mramba served as minister for finance and Yona was minister for energy and minerals in the Mkapa administration.
Both pleaded not guilty to a total of 13 counts drawn up by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), but were unable to immediately meet the tough bail conditions set by the court, and have been holed up in remand prison ever since.
Meanwhile, six accused persons in the ongoing Bank of Tanzania (BoT) external payment arrears account embezzlement trials at the Kisutu court yesterday failed to report to prosecutors as required.
Nineteen of the accused persons in the EPA scandal trials had been ordered to report to the court on the last Friday of every month as an integral part of the conditions under which they were granted bail.
The six who failed to show up at the court yesterday were Godfrey Mosha, Sofia Ralika, Davies Kamungu, Ester Komu, Japhet Lema, and Bosco Kemere. The other thirteen, including business tycoons Jeetu Patel and Johnson Lukaza, reported at the court as required under the bail conditions.
It could not be immediately established why the six went absent without leave (AWOL). The chief prosecutor at the Kisutu court, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Charles Kenyela, said: ''The law will take its course if any accused persons violate their bail conditions.''