The Nachingwea District Court in Ruvuma region on
Friday this week sentenced to two years imprisonment two senior officials of a
business association known as Naipanga AMCOS operating in the district after
having found them guilty of misappropriation of Sh. 13.3 million, a property that
belongs to members of the association. Those sentenced are the Association’s Chairman
Salum Hamisi Tewa and the Chief Accountant Mustafa Suedi Kantelu, who jointly
were charged for ghost purchase of cashew nut during the harvesting seasons of
2010/2011. The fraudulent charges were earlier opened under criminal case No.
CC 66/2013 by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) district
office before magistrate Joseph Cosmas Hemela. The PCCB’s District Officer in-charge Moses
Oguda said in a statement he issued yesterday that, “the accused were charged in
the first count with intend to steal contrary to section 32 of the Prevention
and Combating of Corruption Act No. 11/2007. Under this section, the magistrate
has ordered the two accused to be fined each one with Sh. 500,000/- and failure
for that would be sent to jail term of 24 months. In the second count, Oguda is
quoted in statement as saying that, the two accused were charged with
misappropriation of the association fund alongside showing ghost expenditure
for the money spent for the purchase contrary to section 28 of the PCCB Act No.
11/2007. Under this section, the magistrate ordered the two accused to be fined
each one with Sh. 600,000/- and failure for that would be sent to serve a 24
month jail term.
In addition to that, according to Oguda the court has also
ordered the accused to refund the money they fraudulently spend of about Sh.
13,395,800/- within a couple of 12 months (one year) starting from the date of
judgment. According to PCCB district officer in charge, the two accused totally
failed to meet those conditions and have been sent to jail to serve their 24
months sentence. In another separate press statement, Oguda is quoted as saying
that, the same court has sentenced the second accused of the case Mustafa Suedi
Kantelu, who was charged in a different case at the court for misappropriating
the association fund of Sh. 491,000/=
in a case No.CC 92/2013 which was opened at the court by PCCB district office
in 2013. The judgment is associated with ghost purchase of a wind screen of the
car which belongs to the business association. The accused was sentenced to
another two years imprisonment after the court had satisfactorily received
sufficient evidences of the charges leveled against him. Either the court has
ordered him to refund the money to his employer which he spend on a dubious
purchase deal as ruled by the magistrate
contrary to section 22 of the PCCB Act No. 11/2007. The ruling has ordered the
accused also to pay a fine of Sh. 500,000/-. Oguda noted in his statement that,
the accused failed to meet the conditions as ruled by the court and was taken
to jail to serve other two years concurrently.
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