Daily News; Wednesday,December 17, 2008 @21:15
President Jakaya Kikwete has reiterated that prosecution of corruption suspects will proceed carefully, rejecting calls to drag people to court en masse. He told Tanzanians living in Mozambique here on Tuesday evening that thorough investigations must be carried out to gather convincing evidence before suspects were arraigned.
“We cannot take people to court on the basis of public demand. We must gather concrete evidence first,” he emphasized, explaining that some of the suspects were high profile public figures, whose reputation should not be tarnished unnecessarily. The president said some people had compiled lists of individuals they purported to be corrupt and were calling for their immediate prosecution.
Two former ministers and a retired Permanent Secretary in the Treasury have been arraigned by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) for abuse of office and causing over 11bn/- loss to the government. Prominent businessmen and senior Bank of Tanzania (BoT) officials are also standing trial for the theft of 133bn/- from the now infamous External Payments Arrears (EPA) account.
The PCCB says it is investigating six high profile cases of corruption involving senior public servants. There is lingering suspicion on the authenticity of a number of public contracts and procurements, including the Dar es Salaam International Airport radar, Presidential jet, Richmond emergency power project, Buzwagi gold mine and Kiwira coal mine.
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