Former Simba Secretary General Hassan Othman ‘Hassanol’ has denied theft charges against him and two other accused persons charged with stealing several tonnes of copper worth over 397m/-.
Hassan Othman ‘Hassanol’
Hassanol also prayed before the Kisutu Resident Court in Dar es Salaam, which heard his defence testimony on Wednesday to set him free because he was not guilty of the offence.
Before Resident Magistrate, Devotha Kisoka, Hassanol, who is also the Chairman of Coastal Region Football Association (COREFA), said that he was a clean person.
He told the court that he was not involved in the alleged copper theft because on the same day of the incident, he was at Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel (now Hyatt Hotel) for a Muslims meeting, which was headed by the Tanzania Mufti, Sheikh Issa Simba.
He also denied the charges, saying that he doesn’t work on copper business and there was no way he could have been involved in transporting them.
“All the 13 witnesses who gave their evidences before this court have not mentioned my name that I committed the crime…and the police officers took my cell phone to investigate if I called the third accused (Najim Msenga), but there is no any proof to validate the allegation,” said Hassanol.
Other accused persons in the trial are businessmen Najim Msenga and Wambura Mahega. On his side, Najim denied the evidence given by one witness that ‘Hassanol’ called him when he was at burial in Tanga that he wanted to keep the consignment at his yard.
“When I was at the burial I remember someone called and said he is from Hassanol’s office and he wanted to keep his cargo at the yard and I agreed.
It was a new number and since I was in a sad mood, I did not recognise the person’s voice,” said Najim. However, the other accused in the case, Wambura told the court that he wrote a statement to agree on charges against him at the police station after being forced by one Regional Commissioner Officer (RCO) Wambura.
The prosecution alleged that on August 26, 2011, the three accused persons, conspired to steal copper worth more than 397m/-.
By SWAUM MUSTAPHER, Tanzania Daily News
