Kisutu Court strike out bail application by TFF officials
What you need to know:
- Resident Magistrate Wilbard Mashauri gave the ruling yesterday after agreed with prosecution submission that the accused were not entitled to bail due to the nature of the offense which are standing charged.
Dar es Salaam. Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court has strike out bail application by the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) President Mr Jamal Malinzi and two other accused persons.
Resident Magistrate Wilbard Mashauri gave the ruling yesterday after agreed with prosecution submission that the accused were not entitled to bail due to the nature of the offense which are standing charged.
Malinzi and his co-accused Mr Mwesiga Celestine, TFF secretary general and Ms Nsiande Mwanga who is an accountant officer with the federation were arraigned last Friday facing several counts including over Sh1.3 billion money laundering which are unbailable offenses according to the Tanzanian law.
Giving the ruling, magistrate Mashauri said that, after passing through arguments from both sides he was agreed with prosecution that the law does not allow the accused facing money laundering charge to be granted bail.
After the ruling, the magistrate adjourned the case to July 17 when it come up for mention as the investigation have not yet completed, according to the prosecution.
Mr Malinzi and his co three accused are facing 28 counts including forgery, uttering forged documents and US dollar 375,418 money laundering.
The defense team led by advocate Jerome Msemwa asked the court to grant bail to their client by considering article 13(6)(b) of the constitution that presumed the accused innocent until proven guilty by the court.
“This is the court of justice, it’s not fair to bring the accused and remand them waiting the completion of investigation.
However, prosecution led by Principal State Attorney Mutalemwa Kishenyi strongly objected the request on the ground that, the accused are not entitled to bail because they are facing money laundering offense which are not bailable.
In the case, Mr Malinzi is separately facing 27 counts. According to prosecution, on June 5, 2016 within the City of Dar es Salaam, Mr Malinzi and Selestine forged executive committee resolution to show that the executive committee of the TFF decided to change its signatory bank accounts from Edgar Leonard Masoud to Nsiande Isawafo Mwanga.
