The Acting Director General with the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Joseph Masikitiko, claimed before a Dar es Salaam court that his former boss waived payments of administrative charges to two foreign companies without involving the Board of Directors.
He told Senior Resident Magistrate, Augustina Mbando at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam that even the TBS management of which he was a member, had never discussed the exemption issue extended to the two companies, Jaffar Mohamed Ali Garage and Quality Motors.
Mr Masikitiko, who was Finance and Administrative Manager with TBS at the time the transaction was made between 2008 and 2009, was testifying as a prosecution witness in the trial of ex- Managing Director of the Bureau, Charles Ekelege, who is charged with abuse of position and occasioning loss.
Led by a prosecutor from the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Janeth Mechuye, the witness narrated that as Finance and Administrative Manager with TBS at the time the issue was not brought to his attention.
The acting TBS boss told the court further that he came to know about such waiver for the two companies, which had been contracted as TBS agents to inspect vehicles abroad before being shipped to the country, after receiving a report from external auditors conducted for a period of 2008 and 2009.
He testified further that at a meeting held on June 30, 2011, the management brought the issue before the Board of Directors of TBS and admitted flouting financial regulations. At the meeting, the witness alleged, the management apologized and promised that it would not repeat a similar mistake.
Hearing of the case continues on March 4. In the trial, the ex-TBS boss is charged with abuse of office and occasioning loss to the authority of 42,543 US dollars (about 68m/-).
Ekelege allegedly committed the offences between March 28, 2008 and August 7, 2009 at TBS offices situated in Kinondoni District.
It was alleged that within the period, being the Director General of TBS, in discharge of his functions, intentionally abused his position by waiving 50 per cent of administrative fees worth 42,543 US dollars to two companies of Jaffar Mohamed Ali Garage and Quality Motors.
The court heard further that such waiver was given without the DG obtaining consent of the Executive Council, an act which was in violation of Regulation 2 (3) of the Tanzania Bureau of Standards Financial Regulations of 2005.
As a result of such act, the prosecution alleged, the two companies, (Jaffar Mohamed and Quality Motors) from Hong Kong and Dubai, respectively, obtained undue advantage of the said amount of money.
Ekelege was charged with another count of occasioning a pecuniary loss to a specified authority. The prosecution told the court that within the period in Dar es Salaam at the TBS offices, by his willful acts, Ekelege caused the TBS to suffer a pecuniary loss of 42,543 US dollars (about 68,068,800/-).
By FAUSTINE KAPAMA, Tanzania Daily News
