Team quizzes 200 in Swiss billions scam

Dar es Salaam. Retired army generals and MPs are among 200 prominent Tanzanians who have been questioned by a special team investigating individuals suspected of stashing away $196 million (about Sh314 billion) in Swiss banks, according to news reports.

The Indian Ocean Newsletter reported on Friday that a commission of top state officials chaired by Attorney General Frederick Werema has “discreetly questioned the 200, including political figures and businessmen” on the matter.

The publication quoted Mr Werema as confirming the investigations were carried out between April and May. Indian Ocean Newsletter is a specialist publication on politics and business covering countries on the east coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. It is based in Paris, France.

Yesterday, however, Mr Werema declined to confirm or deny the report which quoted him as saying the investigation was at an “encouraging stage.” Mr Werema reportedly told the newsletter the commission’s work was progressing carefully in order to authenticate the information it had gathered.

The AG is also quoted as saying that a preliminary report might be out soon and that a large numbers of people, including MPs, have already been questioned.

According to the newsletter, the probe committee consists of the director general of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Dr Edward Hoseah; the director of intelligence, Mr Rashid Othman, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) governor, Prof Benno Ndulu and Mr Mustapha Ismail, who in charge of BoT’s legal affairs as well as officials from the prosecutor’s and criminal investigations offices.

The revelation comes after a struggle between the government and a section of MPs and anti-graft campaigners who have been pressuring for investigations of the suspects with a view to name them publicly and prosecuting them.

Initial reports of the billions of shillings hidden in Swiss bank accounts first came to light in November last year after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) released details of countries whose nationals operated bank accounts in Switzerland. The information reportedly contained the names of the Tanzanians and $196 milion they owned.

The SNB report sparked off an uproar, with Kigoma North MP (Chadema) Zitto Kabwe tabling a private member’s motion in Parliament asking the government to investigate the said Tanzanians.

He said the culprits corruptly acquired the billions and claimed he had evidence. Mr Kabwe, who is also the deputy opposition leader in Parliament, claimed the actual amount of illicit money stashed away in foreign countries was considerably higher.

He cited the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report of 2008 which stated that $8 billion— enough to offset the public debt by 80 per cent—had been stashed away in bank accounts abroad between 1970 and 2008.

According to the Indian Ocean Newsletter, Tanzania’s investigation targeted people, some of whom are linked to the controversial diversion of $133 million in 2005 from the BoT’s External Payment Arrears account.

“The witnesses were questioned on their professional activities, their families, their bank accounts in Tanzania and abroad as well as the countries they had visited during the last three years,” said the report.

The AG and his team is reportedly to have questioned the individuals to establish whether they had complied with standard procedures in opening their accounts abroad and whether the funds had been acquired legally.

Tanzania’s move to solve the Swiss banking mystery is like that of other nations that have been similarly affected. On Wednesday, the Swiss Parliament overwhelmingly voted not to debate a bill, which could have allowed the country’s banks to hand over sensitive data to the US.

The National Council rejected the government’s bill which would have temporarily lifted Switzerland’s banking secrecy and allow banks to draw a line under past wrongdoing.

The vote came a day after G8 leaders agreed to hunt tax cheats and crack down on corporate schemes to reduce tax bills, and just hours after Switzerland’s upper house, the Council of States, gave its approval.

Swiss banks are also believed to hold billions of dollars of American citizens.

who have not declared these assets to US tax authorities. The take-it-or-leave-it settlement proposed by Washington was approved by the Swiss government in May.

But parliamentary approval was needed for a one-year waiver of Swiss banking secrecy rules, but lawmakers insisted they would not be railroaded into making a hasty decision.