EPA loot: Govt recovers 50bn/-

The government has said it has recovered more than 50bn/- out of 133bn/- that was embezzled from the Bank of Tanzania`s External Payment Account in 2005.

The recovered money is part of 133bn/- that was lost through dubious payments and dealings with phony companies.

Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Mustapha Mkulo told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that there had been a remarkable improvement in tracing the lost funds.

He declined to give names of companies or individuals who had paid up the money. ``We have managed to recover this money within a month,`` he said.

The minister said the probe team appointed by President Kikwete to investigate the EPA scandal had also seized some assets, including houses located within and outside the country, which had been acquired using money that was paid from the EPA Account.

The visiting IMF Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who also attended the joint press conference, said he was impressed with the way the Tanzanian government upheld principles of good governance and tackled corruption.

``Successful addressing of these issues will give a significant boost to public and private sector confidence,`` Strauss-Kahn said.

He said the IMF would continue supporting Tanzania in its effort to reduce poverty, fight corruption and maintain the economy on a sustainable path.

President Kikwete sacked former BoT governor Daudi Ballali, whose administration occasioned the multi billion loss to the Central Bank. Prof. Beno Ndulu was appointed to replace Ballali.

An audit report compiled by Ernst and Young had revealed that payments amounting to 133,015,186,220.74 /- were dubiously made to 22 domestic companies from the EPA Account.

Out of the money, 90,359,078,804/- was paid to 13 companies based on fake and forged documentation, while some companies had no supporting documents to authenticate their claims.

Following the auditing firm`s findings President Kikwete formed a probe team consisting Attorney General, Inspector General of Police and the Director of Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau to track down all the firms and individuals who were involved in the shoddy deals and take appropriate action in line with the laws of the land.

The team, formed last month, had been given three months to accomplish the task.

The team leader, Attorney General Johnson Mwanyika, was quoted on Wednesday as saying that his team had identified the implicated individuals and recovered some of the money.

SOURCE: Guardian