Former Tanzania ministers as well as current officers
who jointly involved in the monitoring and sanctioning of diamond deals as
directed by the government, following the undervalued diamond impounded at the
Julius Nyerere International Airport en route to Belgium from Mwadui Diamond
Mine will b e investigated over the saga, the Minister of Finance and Planning
Dr Phillip Mpango has said. The diamond, impounded on August 31 a few minutes
before the aircraft left the country’s global gateway – and exported by
Williamson Diamonds Ltd, was undervalued and pegged at US $14.7 million against
its market actual value at US $29.5 million dollars. The Prevention and
Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Director General, Mr Valentino Mlowola,
said investigations had since been launched as directed by the minister and
pledged that the public would be informed at an ‘appropriate time.’Both the
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Director for Taxpayer Services and Education,
Mr Richard Kayombo and the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr Biswalo Mganga
maintained that the directives were being implemented as directed by the
minister. “The directives as issued by Dr Mpango (finance minister) are being
implemented at this point I cannot comment anything”, he said. But when the
time is right the public will be duly informed,” Mr Kayombo said. Dr Mpango who
was receiving a report on the smuggled diamond on behalf of President John
Magufuli ordered the arrests of former and current officers involved in monitoring
and sanctioning of diamond business, including establishing “the legality” of
their acquired property. The minister ordered the police, PCCB and other law
enforcement agents to investigate the property belonging to the suspects (of
impounded diamond), with a view to establishing if they were legitimately
acquired before confiscating them to compensate for the loss. He also intimated
that the government had confiscated the gemstones for violations of the East
African Customs Management Act of 2004, section 210. In part, this section
states, in subsection G: “ …
In addition to any other circumstances in which
goods are liable to forfeiture under this Act, the following goods shall be
liable to forfeiture … any goods in respect of which, in any matter relating to
the Customs, any entry, declaration, certificate, application or other
document, answer, statement or representation, which is knowingly false or
knowingly incorrect in any particular case has been delivered, made or
produced.” The minister called upon the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to come up with
a special arrangement to start establishing mineral reserves, as do other parts
across the world, instead of concentrating on cash reserve alone. The list of
orders issued by the minister also included the purchase of modern weighing
equipment that would facilitate the sorting of gemstones in terms of weight to
facilitate proper valuing. These orders come just days after President Magufuli
received two reports from two parliamentary select committees, separately
detailing dubious deals involving diamond and Tanzanite, respectively. Following
‘revealing’ dealing contained in the reports, Dr Magufuli ordered a review of
Petra Diamonds’ contract and asked senior public officials to resign over the
outcome of the investigation by the two House committees. As a direct
consequence, the Minister of State in the President’s Office, Mr George
Simbachawene and Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Mr
Edwin Ngonyani bowed out. In retrospect, the government had earlier passed new
laws to increase mining taxes, to force companies to renegotiate their
contracts and to allow the state to own a significant stake in mining
companies. The laws, the Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty)
and the Natural Wealth and Resources Contracts (Review and Re-negotiation of
Unconscionable Terms), could also raise increased royalty taxes, under which
the government would receive six per cent of all gold, copper, silver and
platinum exports instead of the previous four per cent. The head of state is on
mission to overhaul the country’s mining industry, with the government
targeting a doubling of its GDP contribution to at least 10 percent by 2025.
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