PRIME Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, said yesterday the government was working on Kigoma Urban MP (ACT-Wazalendo) Zitto Kabwe’s advice that it should launch an investigation into the bribery scandal with the UK bank.
“We have received an advice from Mr
Kabwe to probe the UK based Standard ICBC and Stanbic Tanzania over USD 6
mi l - lion (about 12bn/-) bribery scandal in a treasury bond deal
sealed on March 8, 2013 which we are working on,” Mr Majaliwa said.
Speaking in Dodoma yesterday, the PM
said the government was working on the matter and that immediately after
proper assessment and thorough investigations by security agencies, the
matter would be made public.
On Thursday evening, Mr Kabwe asked
Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, to form a parliamentary
selectcommittee to probe into the scandal with a UK bank. The outspoken
MP demanded that the committee should launch investigation into the UK
based Standard ICBC and Stanbic Tanzania to get the truth on the matter.
Reports say the alleged hefty bribe
facilitated the purchase of USD 600 million (Sh1.2 trillion) treasury
bonds in 2013 by the UKbased Standard Bank.
Debating budget estimates for the
Ministry of State in the President’s Office (Good Governance and Public
Service Management), Mr Kabwe argued that on March 8, 2013, the
government took an external loan facility of USD 600 million (about
1.2tri/-) by the help of UK’s Standard Bank, now known as Standard Bank
ICIC plc. He added that if the government implemented the contract, it
would have started servicing the loan in March 2016.
According to the Kigoma Urban
legislator, the loan was marred by serious corruption allegations that
have landed some officials in court. However, the prime minister
yesterday said that there was no cause for alarm over the matter,
insisting that the issue was under close watch by government agencies.
“As the leader of government business in
the House, I have received the advice from Mr Zitto and we are working
on it and after proper analysis by government machineries, we will be in
a position to reveal findings,’’ insisted Mr Majaliwa.
In the House, Mr Kabwe presented a
letter of Tanzanians living in the Diaspora, who wrote to the Prevention
and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), demanding that the
government launch investigations into the saga.
However, he pointed out that PCCB used
reports by UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which did not investigate
the UK’s Standard Bank. “Today PCCB is being helped and advised by
experts from the UK while the bank implicated in this scam is from that
country,’’ he noted, adding that the corruption watchdog was afraid to
charge the UK based bank because those giving advice on the matter were
from the UK.
To know the truth to justify appropriate
legal steps instituted against the offenders, the Parliament ought to
repeal section 120(2) to form an independent parliamentary
select-committee to investigate into the multi-million scam.
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