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Tanzania foreign missions accused of embezzlement
2006-02-17 07:13:15
By Guardian Reporter, Dodoma
The controller and auditor-general’s report released to parliament this week has indicted Tanzania’s missions abroad for financial mismanagement that amounts to 567,951,935.74/-.
The money was supposed to have been remitted to the retention revenue account at the Bank of Tanzania.
The report for the financial year ended June 30, 2004 says a total of 13,012,655.50/- was also not included in the deposits balance.
It says further that, although the High Commission in London had purchased and paid 12,493,922,420.80/- to acquire Chancery House in London, there was no evidence of possession of a title deed for the property.
An audit of the payment vouchers for the financial year 2003/04 shows the existence of un-vouched and improperly vouched expenditures of 7,369,193,685/, according to the report.
A total of 3,492,429,299/- was paid for renovations and rehabilitation of buildings at the head office of all embassies, but there was no evidence of signed contracts, receipts for quantities of materials and certificate of completion of work.
At the Tanzania High Commission in Lusaka, Zambia for instance, an audit of remittances and payment of salaries revealed that there was over-remittance of local staff salaries.
The amount received at the mission for salaries for local staff was US$39,103.23.
However, the actual local salary payments during the year 2003/04 were US$6,651.50. US$32,451.73 is unaccounted for.
The mission also paid 4,014,310.50/- as medical expenses in respect of several mission staff contrary to the Tanzania foreign service regulations.
At the High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria, a scrutiny of revenue collection between January 2002 and September 2004 from passports and visa fees showed that visa receipt leaflet serial numbers 0-16072792-16072744 and 16072789-16072792 had inexplicably been torn and removed from the visa booklet.
At the Tanzania embassy in Kinshasa, DRC, an audit of payment vouchers, according to the report, revealed that a sum of 128,400,000/- was paid to various people in respect of house rents, repairs and rehabilitation of the Chancery House without following the normal contracts and tendering procedures.
At the Tanzania High Commission in Kampala, Uganda, the report shows that a sum of Ush8,895,100 was spent on the repair of the High Commissioner’s motor vehicles.
The report says the amount spent was too much as the car - Mercedes Benz - had been used for only two years.
In Lilongwe, Malawi, the High Commission procured two used motor vehicles one Toyota Land Cruiser, a 1999 model at US$ 21,000, which had accumulated over 840,067 kilometres.
The other car, a 1995 Toyota van, was purchased at US$12,000 after having accumulated a total of 189,738 kilometres.
The report says the buying of secondhand vehicles for government use was contrary to the existing financial and procurement regulations.
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