Tanzania collects Sh12 billion through plea-bargaining agreements with accused persons

Dar es Salaam. The government has collected a total of 12.3 billion from various accused persons who decided to secure their freedom through the plea-bargaining arrangement, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), has said.

Mr Biswalo Mganga said in Dar es Salaam on Monday, February 10, 2020 that the amount was collected from 341 defendants in 104 criminal cases.  

He was speaking during an event where the government announced the nationalisation of money and properties which had been amassed through criminal means.

Among the nationalised properties include minerals like gold, diamond and tanzanite among others.

According to Mr Mganga, a total of 397.937 kilograms of gold, valued at Sh32.7 billion, was nationalised.

“We confiscated the gold as it was about to be smuggled out of the country,” he said.

Authorities have also nationalised 24 residential houses, nine plots, 65 vehicles, two plantations, 6,894 pieces of timber one dhow and one boat.  

All the nationalised properties were presented to the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Dotto James who was also present at the meeting.

Apart from Mr James, other key government officials who attended the meeting included: the Bank of Tanzania Governor Prof Florens Luoga, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Dr Augustine Mahiga and Mineral Minister Dotto Biteko, among others.

Mr Biswalo called the submission of the money collected and the properties nationalised “a historic” event that has never happened before in Tanzania’s history.

He urged all the defendants who entered plea-bargaining agreements with the DPP to make sure that they pay the money as agreed during the signing of the agreement.

He warned that failure to honour the agreement result into the enforcement of the court order.

“We will either enforce the court order or reverse the charges facing them,” warned Mr Mganga.

Towards the end of last year, the Parliament approved The Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 4) Act to, among others, amend the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) to allow defendants in criminal cases to plead guilty at first hearing in return for dismissal of charges or a more lenient sentence.

The government adopted the system, already accepted in several countries, to help reduce backlog of cases in courts, prison congestion and ensure timely delivery of justice.

With the new law, people who stand trial, for instance, for money laundering or economic crime charges, do agree to enter an early guilty plea as a way of mitigating sentence or having the case dismissed.

The negotiations allow an accused person to cooperate by providing the prosecutor with vital information that may lead to the discovery of other information related to the offence.