President Jakaya Kikwete
By Felix Lazaro,The Citizen Reporter
In Summary
- The newspaper claimed that the President ordered the release of Ajay Suryakant Somani while others who were convicted with him remained in prison.
Dar es Salaam. The Prisons
management has refuted claims that President Jakaya Kikwete ordered the
release of a convict in the External Payment Arrears (Epa) of the Bank
of Tanzania (BoT) as claimed by one Kiswahili newspaper.
The newspaper claimed that the President ordered
the release of Ajay Suryakant Somani while others who were convicted
with him remained in prison.
In a statement to the media, Prisons commissioner
general John Minja said the newspaper should retract that report
because the mentioned people were released according to the law.
However, he said the remaining two were yet to finish their jail terms.
Mr Minja said Somani who was sentenced to two
years in jail after being found guilty of obtaining money by false
pretence was released on a presidential pardon last month.
“He was released following the presidential pardon
to some prisoners on December 9 during the marking of 52 years of
independence,” said Mr Minja
He explained that the presidential pardon
involved a reduction in jail terms by a half. The remaining one year
term was removed, Somani became free.
Mr Minja said Somani was sentenced to two years on November 22, 2012.
About the others — Sophia Joseph Lelika, Ester
Komu and Emmanuel Mwakyosa — Mr Minja said they were found guilty of
occasioning a loss to BoT and were sentenced to three years in jail or
pay fines of Sh5 million each.
He said Komu, and Mwakyosa paid their fines on the same day the judgment was delivered and were set free on the same day.
Mr Minja said the other convict, Lalika, did not
settle the fine on the judgment day and was sent to jail. But on
November 23, 2012, Ms Lalika paid the fine and was freed.“Hence the
claims that other convicts are still in the cell are not true.”
Mr Minja said other convicts Farijala Shabani who
is serving 11 years in jail and Rajabu Maranda who is serving 10 years
in jail were also beneficiaries of the presidential pardon, but they
could not be released following the length of their terms in jail
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