| Mramba ‘had links with Alex Stewart’ | Send to a friend |
| Monday, 06 September 2010 22:50 |
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Former Finance minister Basil Mramba had a business relationship with the controversial auditing firm Alex Stewart Government Business Corporation, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court head yesterday. Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) official Saddy Kambona said during cross-examination by defence lawyer Herbert Nyange that there was circumstantial evidence showing that Mr Mramba had personal interest that led to the company being handed a gold auditing tender despite not winning the tender. “Companies that went through evaluation were Alex Stewart Assayers Limited of Britain and four others… Alex Stewart (Assayers) Government Business Corporation (ASA) of America was not among them,” Mr Kambona said. Mr Kambona was the 12th prosecution witness to testify before a panel of magistrates led by Mr John Utamwa in the case in which Mr Mramba, former Cabinet minister Daniel Yona and former Finance permanent secretary Gray Mgonja have denied charges of abuse of office that allegedly occasioned the government losses running into billions of shillings. The three were charged after three years of investigations by PCCB and the police into the suspicious hiring of Alex Stewart (Assayers) Government Business Corporation (ASA) to audit gold production in Tanzania. The corporation was in 2003 controversially assigned through a contract, which saw it receive a whopping Sh65 billion ($50 million) in gold auditing fees. The firm completed its task and left the country in August 2007. The company was paid an average of Sh1.3 billion ($1 million) every month from June 2003 to August 2007. Mr Kambona told the court that the company was established on December 13, 2002 when the process of finding a gold assayer was in progress. He further told the court that six months later, the company entered into a contract with the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to audit gold production without any experience and before obtaining a certificate of registration from the Business Registration and Licensing Agency (Brela). The company was registered on June 14, 2006 and got a certificate of compliance in August the same year, over three years after signing a contract with BoT on June 14, 2003, Mr Kambona said. The witness further told the court that there was evidence showing that the company got tax exemptions through government notes signed by Mr Mramba after ignoring advice by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). Mr Kambona said despite the former minister knowing that there was no budget in the 2003/4 financial for paying the assayers, he instructed the BoT governor to sign the contract and pay $1 million to the company. Asked by Mr Nyange if it was true that Mr Mramba’s son, Godfrey Pesambili Mramba, had an interest in the company, the witness said the information was among suspicions that prompted the PCCB investigations. In his testimony last Friday, Mr Kambona said Mr Mramba had admitted that the process of hiring the auditing firm did not follow procedure. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
