Prof Mbarawa told a news conference in
Dar es Salaam that the ministry had uncovered colossal losses and theft
of funds by some employees of the ailing national carrier.
“For instance, we have uncovered a loss
of 715,846,000/- through an agent based in Comoro namely Salama World
Travel, who has been selling air tickets for Air Tanzania proceeds from
which are nowhere to be seen,” he stated.
According to the minister, travel agents
in foreign countries are supposed to deposit a certain amount of money
to the airline after which they will be given tickets worth that amount
but this was different with the Comoro-based agent. ‘’Let’s say if an
agent deposits 15m/-, she/he will be allowed to sell tickets of that
amount.
But Salama was sold tickets worth over
100m/- without depositing a penny”, Prof Mbarawa elaborated. He further
reported that on August 13, 2015, the agent was allotted tickets worth
121m/- and additional tickets amounting to 121m/- on September 9 last
year, which, however, has not been remitted to the airline.
As if that was not enough, the same
agent was allotted tickets worth 81m/- and 60m/- on October 29 and
November 27, last year, respectively, followed by other portions with a
value of 121m/- on December 13 and 121m/- on January 10, this year.
“Not a single penny from the allotments
was paid to ATCL. We made a follow-up in the ticketing system and found
out that the finance manager had issued the allotments contrary to laid
down procedures,” the minister elaborated. He added: “When Mr Kasubi was
questioned on the loss, he claimed that his password to the system had
been stolen.
The government has decided to suspend
him pending investigations.” Prof Mbarawa hinted that a team of cyber
crime experts from the police force have been deployed to conduct
investigations, stressing that chances were high that other people could
be involved in the scam.
“We have as well directed the Controller
and Auditor General (CAG) to conduct an audit on all agents
commissioned to find out whether they remit the funds to the company,”
the minister revealed. He warned that the government will act tough on
cyber criminals since theft through the system has been on the increase
No comments :
Post a Comment