Leaders` Ethics watchdog mum on minister Chenge

[fillar munuo]

2008-04-18 09:30:50
By Angel Navuri


The Public Leaders` Ethics Secretariat has remained tight-lipped on whether the Infrastructure Development minister Andrew Chenge has ever declared the 1.2bn/- he is reported to have deposited in an overseas bank account.

The law governing the public leadership code of ethics requires ministers and Members of Parliament to declare their wealth upon assuming office.

Judge Stephen Ihema, the secretariat`s commissioner, has for three days running been reluctant to respond to questions from journalists on the matter.

When approached for comment yesterday, he told this reporter through his public relations officer to draft her questions and bring them to his office.

According to sources, many questions have been forwarded to the office from different media houses since last week but no response had been forthcoming.

Judge Ihema is the secretariat`s spokesperson and effectively the only person who could answer the questions.

The Minister of State in the Presidents Office (Good Governance), Sofia Simba, meanwhile told The Guardian yesterday that the secretariat was the relevant institution to explain whether Chenge had declared the money as part of his wealth.

The secretariat``s key functions include monitoring public leaders? abuses of power, accountability and transparency.

The allegations against Chenge were first reported by the Guardian newspaper of the UK, which revealed that British investigators involved in a three-year inquiry over the controversial sale of a military radar to Tanzania had located more than $1m in his account in Jersey.

Chenge, Tanzania`s Attorney General for ten years until his ministerial appointment, told journalists on his return from China on Wednesday that the allegations were ``too serious`` and that he needed time to respond to them.

The embattled minister was in China as part of President Jakaya Kikwete?s entourage on an official visit there when details of his foreign offshore bank account made newspaper headlines in Tanzania.

In his remarks on Wednesday he said he believed ``these baseless and malicious`` allegations related to the purchase of the radar from UK`s leading arms manufacturers, BAE Systems. He swore to fight back.

As AG, Chenge was the government`s chief legal advisor when the 28 million pounds sterling (approx. 70bn/-) radar was purchased at what is alleged to be a massively inflated price.

SOURCE: Guardian


By the way i thought during Mkapa adm he demanded all the leaders to declare their wealth before taking over the office.Was this done extensively???and if yes how can you tell if someone is honest or not i don't remember how it ended but would it help if they also declare their wealth also when finishing their time.!!!!before taking another responsibility for another term???To me this process is real confusing!!

[Jonny]

Well well... i guess he needs to time to respond to the charges but since this came out from the Guardian in UK, i don't think he can accuse them of having political motives against him
Also contrary to what Mr. Chenge says there are several issues in question here.

1. Whether he declared the money or not? If not, why?
2. Whether the money is part of the 15/- billion bribes that was transfered to a Switzerland bank account at the time of the the radar deal?

If either of these issues fall on the wrong side then Mr. Chenge will be guilty of breaking at least 2 laws. Money laundering and tax evasion could also be added since the money crossed international borders and no reported taxes are reported on this money.

On the other hand, Mr.Chenge should be allowed to respond to the charges and innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

However, In the political arena and public opinion courts do not follow court technicalities and the damage might have be done already.
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Opportunities are never lost, someone will take the ones you miss.

[Mariam]

Chenge is linked to $13m bank account

-Retains tight hold over TANGOLD funds despite govt resignation

THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

FORMER cabinet minister Andrew Chenge, who was recently forced to resign over corruption allegations stemming from the military radar purchase scandal, has been linked to a local bank account in Dar es Salaam with a staggering $13m (approx. 15bn/-) balance.

Chenge, also a former attorney general, who sensationally described more than $1m found in his offshore bank accounts as mere ’’pocket change’’, is listed as the signatory of an account with a whopping $12,997,950.04 at the National Bank of Commerce Limited’s Corporate Branch in the city.

Well-placed sources say that even after resigning from government, Chenge’s name still appears as signatory of the NBC bank account owned by the controversial TANGOLD Limited company.

Apart from the US-dollar account, the supposedly government-owned company has a separate bank account in local currency at the same bank branch, with more than 1.3bn/-.

The huge funds paid into the TANGOLD bank accounts originated from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) in December 2005.

Government sources say the former infrastructure development minister also has his own personal account at the same NBC Corporate Branch, with more than 24m/-.

’’Chenge’s personal bank account is linked to the two bank accounts owned by TANGOLD, where he is listed as signatory,’’ said a well-placed source.

Earlier investigations by THISDAY have already established that TANGOLD Limited was registered as an offshore company in Port Louis, Mauritius in April 2005, with at least five top government functionaries at the time listed as directors.

They included the then BoT governor, Dr Daudi Ballali, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Gray Mgonja, who still retains the same position todate despite a government changeover in the interim.

Other directors of the company are Chenge (who was then serving as attorney general); the then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Patrick Rutabanzibwa; and the then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Livestock Development, Vincent Mrisho.

Rutabanzibwa and Mrisho are now permanent secretaries in the Ministry of Water and the Prime Minister’s Office, respectively.

It remains unclear why the third phase government under former president Benjamin Mkapa formed the offshore TANGOLD company in Mauritius.

Also still a mystery is the decision to make Chenge and other high-ranking public officials at that time directors of the company.

It has further been established that the company’s constitution gives all five directors - Ballali, Chenge, Mgonja, Rutabanzibwa and Mrisho - rights to transfer their shares to family members.

A section of the TANGOLD Limited constitution states as follows: ’’Any share may be transferred by a shareholder to, or to trustees for, the spouse, father, mother, child, grandchild, son-in-law or daughter-in-law of that shareholder; and any share of a deceased shareholder may be transferred by his executors or administrators to the spouse, father, mother, child, grandchild, son-in-law or daughter-in-law of the deceased shareholder.’’

This is all despite assurances in parliament by former energy and minerals minister Nazir Karamagi, that TANGOLD Limited is a wholly government-owned company.

According to THISDAY investigations, the BoT previously paid to a South African bank over $118m (approx. 150bn/-), to liquidate a loan issued to the now-defunct Meremeta Gold Mine company.

And Karamagi told the National Assembly last year that all assets and liabilities of Meremeta Gold - including the Buhemba Gold Mine in Mara Region - had been transferred to TANGOLD Limited.

The BoT is understood to have dished out a total of 150bn/- as part of the process of liquidating the Meremeta Gold company, which was in fact a joint venture project owned on a 50-50 basis by the Tanzanian government and a private South African firm going by the name of Trinnex (Pty) Limited.

Members of Parliament have repeatedly questioned the huge payments made by BoT to Meremeta/TANGOLD, and are demanding an official investigation into the matter.

In the meantime, Chenge - forced to step down after being linked to the 2002 military radar purchase scandal - was by last week still listed as signatory of at least one of the supposedly government-owned company’s bank accounts, with a balance of more than 15bn/-.

 

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