Tanzania: SADC business council chair arrested

Mr Salum Shamte. Photo |File

What you need to know:

Mr Salum Shamte, who has been arrested, was recently elected as Chairman of Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) business council.

Tanga. The retired managing director of Katani Limited, who is also the Chairman of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) Salum Shamte and others were on Thursday October 17, 2019 arrested for allegedly being involved with loss of Sh54 billion, including government fund.

Tanga regional commissioner Martin Shigela issued an order to arrest  Mr Shamte, who was recently elected as Chairman of Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) business council.

Other people who were arrested together with Shamte include the current managing director of Katani Limited Mr Juma Shamte, the director of finance Mr Fadhili Malima, the company’s public relations officer Theodora Mtejeta and the company board member Ms Fatma Diwani.

MrShigela has ordered the Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to investigate the incident.

However, Mr Shamte claimed that the arrest has been made without involving the company management, which has details about how the funds were spent.

Speaking during the meeting to discuss an audit presented by the senior auditor from the ministry of finance and planning on the conflict between farmers and Katani limited, Mr Shamte said the company has all documents about the conflict, calling for the review of the audit documents to determine the truth.

“The report has been prepared for the purpose of soiling our reputation.We have served this nation with patriotism. There is no fund which was stolen because Katani Limited has very clear accounts,” he said.

Presenting an audit report, the ministry’s internal auditor Mr Idriss Ally explained that the audit was carried out between January 22 and February 22 this year involving the period between 2008 and 2018.

He said the audit targeted to see the financial transactions of National Social Security Fund (NSSF), farmers and Savings and farmers Credit Society (Saccos) as well as the contracts entered with the company.

He said according to the audit, it was found that a total of Sh54 billion were missing or it was not known how they were spent including farmers social security contributions, loans and unpaid government taxes.