Eight in Sh12.7bn tax evasion court charge

 Dar es Salaam. Seven senior officials with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and an official with Azam Inland Container Depot (ICD) yesterday appeared in a Dar es Salaam court charged with economic sabotage and causing loss of Sh12.7 billion in unpaid taxes to the government.

The taxes were to be paid for the importation of 329 containers.

Senior State Attorney Christopher Msigwa told the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court that the eight accused persons committed the two offences, committed between June 1 and November 17, this year.

Mr Msigwa mentioned the eight accused persons who appeared before Resident Magistrate Huruma Shaidi as the TRA Commissioner for Customs and Excise Duty, Mr Tiagi Masamaki, 56, and TRA head of Customer Service Centre Habib Mponezya, 45.

Others were the head of Customs, Mr Burton Mponezya, 51, the TRA supervisor of Customs and Excise Duty at Azam ICD, Ms Eliachi Mrema, 31, the TRA senior Business analyst, Mr Hamis Omary, 48, the head of TRA ICT, Mr Haroun Mpande 28, the manager of ICD Operations and Security, Mr Raymond Adolf Louis, 39, and Azam ICD manager Ashrafu Khan, 59.

Mr Msigwa told the packed court that the eight accused persons cheated that the 329 containers, which were stored at the Azam ICD, had had their taxes paid for, which was not true.

The senior State attorney said the cheating occassioned the government the Sh12.7 billion loss in unpaid taxes, adding that investigations were still going on. The accused persons were not allowed to enter any plea because the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court was not entitled to conduct cases under the Economic Sabotage Act.

Magistrate Huruma advised the accused persons to apply for bail in the High Court, which has the jurisdiction to deal with such cases.

The eight officials are being defended by advocates Makubi Kunju, John Nyange and Jovin Ndungi who asked the court to give directives on one of their clients, Ms Eliachi Mrema, saying she had a nine-month only baby who was still breastfeeding.

However, the Magistrate insisted that the lower court had no powers of making decisions on cases involving economic sabotage charges.

The Magistrate remanded the accused until December 17, 2015 when the case would be mentioned again.

Last week, President John Magufuli suspended the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Commissioner General, Mr Rished Bade, pending investigations into how taxes amounting to Sh80 billion for 349 cargo containers were not paid for after they were cleared from the Dar es Salaam Port.

The President suspended the TRA chief two hours after Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa had suspended five other senior TRA officials over the whereabouts of the Sh80 billion taxes for the 349 containers.

The suspension of the TRA senior officials followed a surprise visit by the Prime Minister at the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA).

The TRA boss became the first top official to be suspended by the Head of State since the latter was sworn in as president earlier last month after he had emerged victorious in the October 25 General Election.

The Chief Secretary, Mr Ombeni Sefue, told a news conference that President Magufuli suspended Bade to pave the way for an investigation into the scandal.

Mr Ombeni said President Magufuli appointed Dr Phillip Mpango, the former executive secretary in the President’s Office (Planning Commission) acting TRA Commissioner General.

Premier Majaliwa ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ernest Mangu, to arrest the suspended TRA officials and withhold their travel documents in the course of investigations.

Mr Majaliwa also instructed Mr Mangu to ensure that their assets were identified and assessed to see whether they were obtained legally and if they correlated with the salaries of the suspended public servants.

The suspension of the TRA top officials came barely a week after President Magufuli laid down the priorities of his government, sending out a strong statement that it would not be business as usual under his administration.

Dr Magufuli vowed to fight corruption and all forms of impunity. The President’s speech set the working tone for the yet to be assembled cabinet and also for those in public service, either as politicians or civil servants. He said it was now the time for Tanzanians to walk the talk in the resolve to confront vices that he said were holding the nation back in uplifting millions from abject poverty.