|
AG: Give us time to investigate EPA
2008-03-13 09:44:30
By Judica Tarimo
The head of the presidential team investigating massive embezzlement of funds in the Bank of Tanzania, Attorney General Johnson Mwanyika, yesterday commented on the gradual recovery of the 133bn/- stolen from the bank`s External Payments Account. The money was dubiously paid to 22 companies.
Mwanyika, who was accompanied by the Inspector general of Police (IGP), Said Mwema, made the clarifications during the Editors` Forum convened yesterday in Dar es Salaam.
He said recovering the money from respective firms was the major priority of the Presidential probe-team.
``Currently, our focus is to recover the money. Taking legal action against the owners and officers of the firms involved in the money stashing scam will be the next step,`` he said.
``We are currently pressing owners of the relevant companies to return the money. But it should be noted that we will not skip legal measures against the culprits. Let`s conclude the first process of recovering the money,`` he added.
He said the probe team was presently tracing where the money was, an exercise that was accompanied with investigation and identification of the persons involved.
However, journalists wanted to know a number of things, including why people who returned the money were not being arrested.
They also wanted to know the title of account through which the culprits were channeling the money to the government.
Other questions included which criteria was used to evaluate properties owned by the culprits and also the possibility that some of those who had returned the money might run away while the probe team was still proceeding with investigations.
The AG responded that the team was currently probing the office bearers of the implicated firms, so as to identify the specific individuals who submitted the quotations to BoT.
As for the title of the account, Mwanyika said the owners were channelling the money through a special account, but declined to give details.
On the possibility of culprits running away, the AG said: ``We have the IGP and other experts who can ensure that those who return the money do not escape.``
Speaking, IGP Mwema said the team was tasked to trace the money paid through EPA Account and was undertaking cross-cutting investigations of persons involved in all the processes right from the beginning.
``We are struggling to get the money first. We are tracing one person after another who were directly involved in the deals,`` he said, adding: ``We cannot disclose names of the firms to avoid the danger of other culprits running away.``
An editor with `Tanzania Daima` asked why the probe team refused to disclose names of companies which had already returned the money while all the 22 implicated companies were already known.
A freelance journalist, Siyovelwa Hussein, questioned the money recovery process and said it was conducted in a friendly-manner between the team and the implicated company owners.
He also wanted to know if the culprits were returning all the money or just some.
`MwanaHALISI` editor Saed Kubenea alleged that a member of the team was among the owners of the firms implicated in the BoT saga.
AG Mwanyika, responding to the questions, dismissed claims that investigations were being done in a friendly-way, saying the probe team was seriously pinned down to its work.
``I also want to stress that it is too early to reveal names of the companies at this juncture.
Secrecy is important for successful recovering of the money, although thorough investigations of individuals involved are necessary. Give us time, the names will be made public later on,`` he clarified.
One of the editors wanted to know why the AG was not resigning and quitting the probe team because he had been mentioned in the Richmond Development Company scandal.
Mwanyika repeatedly said he was a clean person and would not step down.
Mwanyika said: ``Those were just recommendations of the House probe committee. Those who resigned were politicians.
I was not involved in the awarding of the contract in question. If there are any officials in my office who were involved, we shall deal with them.``
|
