Yona heaps blame on BoT
Former Energy and Minerals minister Daniel Yona.PHOTO|FILE
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However, the former minister, who was led by advocate Eliasa Msuya said, it was agreed that the process of finding the firm be done through a tender and the BoT supervised the process.
Dar es Salaam. Former Energy and Minerals minister Daniel Yona yesterday told Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in the city that the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) controlled the entire process of hiring Alex Stewart Assayers.
Mr Yona said this in court when giving his defence testimony before a panel of three magistrates led by John Utamwa.
He is charged along with former Finance minister Basil Mramba and former treasury permanent secretary Gray Mgonja with abuse of office and occasioning Sh11.7 billion loss to the government through irregular hiring of an auditing firm, Alex Stewart Assayers.
The former minister told the court that the former BoT governor that he didn’t mention by name and the Ministry of Energy and Minerals started the process of finding the firm after receiving complaints from the public and MPs.
However, the former minister, who was led by advocate Eliasa Msuya said, it was agreed that the process of finding the firm be done through a tender and the BoT supervised the process.
“The governor formed a team led by him and appointed members and we, as the ministry, were just asked to send representatives,” he said.
The hearing of the case will continue today.
Mr Mramba and Mr Yona, who served as Finance and Energy and Mineral ministers, respectively, under Retired President Benjamin Mkapa, were first arraigned in November 2008.
They were charged after three years of investigations by the PCCB and police into the hiring of the firm to audit gold production in Tanzania.
