UK to re-lodge a case against Standard

 OVER 2,000 Tanzanians in the Diaspora have signed a petition calling for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the UK to re-lodge a case against Standard Bank, making it accountable for the corruption perpetrated in poor countries, including Tanzania, according to ACT chairman Zitto Kabwe.
Kabwe made the remarks in Dar es Salaam on Monday during the party’s Central Committee meeting.He said the interest which the government received from the Treasury bill worth USD 600 million in which the government borrowed from Standard Bank of UK was too costly and inflated the national debt to 1.2 trillion without interest.

“By 2020 when the government will complete clearing the debt, we will be paid more than 1.8 trillion/-, 600bn/- more…it is true that the authorities have dragged some people to court over corrupt deals amounting to USD 600m...but these are only middlemen and not key players,” he said.

According to him, the lender, which is the Standard Bank of UK, and the receiver of the loan - officials from the ministry of Finance and Planning - are yet to be taken to the court.

He said President John Magufuli should be in the forefront of preventing such loans which lead the country into poverty.
Kabwe challenged President Magufuli and his government to do more in the fight against corruption in the country as currently he was “not doing as well as he is required... he is doing it partially.”

“The issue is not sacking government officials...but there is a need to put in place a good system which will provide a long-lasting solution to the scourge of corruption in the country.

The President is yet to tackle some issues which are costing the country such as the Tegeta Escrow scandal and IPTL. These two are cartels in the energy sector,” he said.

The party leader explained that the government had spent 1.8bn/- monthly as payments to IPTL regardless of whether it generated power or not.

“President Magufuli should work on ending such cartels in the energy sector or else he will be fighting a selective war against corruption,” he said.

He said the party would never stop challenging President Magufuli and called upon other people not to be afraid of challenging the government whenever things go wrong.The SFO is the UK body which investigates and prosecutes serious and complex fraud.