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Zanzibar police arrest 5 over theft of salaries
2006-03-15 13:26:01
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
Five Zanzibar government civil servants have been arrested for allegedly pocketing millions of shillings earmarked for paying 251 ghost workers of the Ministry of Health and Social Security.
The Zanzibar Urban West Regional Police Commander, Ameir Juma Ameir, said yesterday that the police had arrested the five suspects last Sunday following the on going investigations to net the culprits.
He said that it was too early to disclose the names of the arrested civil servants as investigations were still at premature stage.
He said in order to protect the process of on going investigations geared at obtaining substantial evidence, the police had decided not to reveal the names of the arrested suspects.
He also said the police were still hunting for more suspects in connection with the same case.
Police reports from Pemba said already some suspects in Pemba had run away to escape arrest.
The Zanzibar Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Mohamed Mugheiry, announced the theft of government funds through dubious payment of ghost workers recently, alleging that the government had been losing 21.7 m/- a month through the fraud.
He said the Zanzibar government would ensure that all civil servants who were involved in that dubious deal were arrested and taken to court.
Following this fraud, the Zanzibar government has devised a new procedure whereby each civil servant is required to possess three identity cards.
The identity cards include the Zanzibar Residential card, the Zanzibar Social Security Fund (ZSSF) card and the Employer’s card.
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