Interpol help sought to trace Jeetu Patel billions
By Mkinga Mkinga
THE CITIZEN
The Government is considering seeking Interpol�s help after a special task force investigating the EPA account scandal managed to trace only Sh12 billion out of the Sh70 billion illegally paid out to business tycoon Jeetu Patel.
Sources told The Citizen that about 80 per cent of the money received by nine companies owned by Mr Patel could not be accounted for locally and overseas.
The missing billions reportedly puzzled the task force appointed by President Jakaya Kikwete to investigate those implicated in the External Payment Arrears (EPA) account and recover the money, promptly the suggestion that Interpol be involved in the search for the money.
But contacted for comment on Tuesday, Mr Patel told The Citizen over the telephone from his home in Dar es Salaam that he wasn�t aware of any of the overseas accounts being linked to him. However, he would not discuss further his alleged involvement in the EPA scandal.
A total of Sh133 billion was paid out to some 22 companies in the EPA scandal, whose first casualty was former BoT Governor Daudi Ballali. President Kikwete sacked Dr Ballali after receiving an audit report on the theft of taxpayers� money through the EPA account.
According to sources close to the investigation team, Mr Patel�s local accounts in two banks were found to have only about Sh4.5 billion, while his overseas account has Sh8.3 billion.
The four-member team led by Attorney-General Johnson Mwanyika on Friday in Dar es Salaam interrogated businessman, who returned to the country after spending two months abroad. He was with the task force from 10 am to noon.
Contacted on Monday, Mr Mwanyika would not comment on the alleged discrepancy between the money reportedly found in Mr Patel�s accounts and what he is said to have received from the EPA account and whether there was any plan to seek Interpol�s assistance. This was Mr Patel�s first appearance before the team since the EPA report was released. He is said to be under intense pressure to reveal the whereabouts of the missing billions.
On noting the huge difference between what the businessman reportedly holds and what he is said to have been paid, the task force has sought Interpol assistance to recover the missing billions. Sources said the money was believed to have been deposited in foreign accounts.
Mr Patel is alleged to have been one of the key players in the Central Bank�s EPA account scandal that cost the country a whopping Sh133 billion in what appears to have been a well-orchestrated scheme to loot public coffers. He returned to Dar es Salaam after being summoned from the United Kingdom to appear before the special investigation team appointed by President Kikwete.
The EPA rip-off was laid bare in an audit by Ernst and Young. The Citizen has established that Mr Patel is involved in nine out of the 13 companies that reportedly received about Sh90.3 billion through EPA, �using forged or false documents�.
The companies, which were listed in the EPA report, are Navycut Tobacco (T) Ltd, Ndovu Soaps Ltd, Bina Resorts Ltd, Bencon International Ltd, Maltan Mining Company Ltd, Bora Hotels and Apartments Ltd, Venus Hotels Ltd, and BV Holdings Ltd.
A member of the task force told The Citizen on Monday that their focus would now shift to working with Interpol to seek to establish the whereabouts of the missing billions. The Citizen learned that the task force queried the amount of money found to have been banked in Mr Patel�s local accounts.
�I am not the spokesperson for the task force team but what I can assure is that what he (Patel) now holds is very little compared to what was stolen�but we shall know the truth very soon.� He further added: �We have discovered that the man has about Sh12 billion in his foreign and local accounts, while the actual payment to him from the EPA account is about four times more than that,� the source noted.
The Citizen has reliably learnt that just few days after the EPA report was released, a total of Sh8 billion was transferred to Mr Patel�s business partners through some local accounts. On Tuesday, lawyer politician Nimrod Mkono denied the allegations linking him to Mr Patel and the missing billions.
�These are malicious allegations� I have never been a friend of that man (Patel), so how did he transfer his money to my account?� he asked. According to Mr Mkono, the MP for Musoma Rural, there had been not such transactions in his bank account. �I am a very clean and credible lawyer who can�t allow anybody to use my bank accounts for dubious transactions,� Mr Mkono told The Citizen.
Another member of the special task force, Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Robert Manumba also declined to comment, saying they have only one spokesperson, who is also the team�s chairman. �Using Interpol is a good idea, but I�m not the spokesperson of the committee. Please try and find Mwanyika,� he noted.
The Sh133 billion lost in the EPA rip-off would have been enough to build about 400km of tarmac roads. News of the scam first emerged in 2006, but it was strongly challenged by some Cabinet ministers who felt the investigating it would have tarnished the ruling party, CCM�s image.
In 2007, opposition MPs took the matter to Parliament, forcing the Government to announce that it was going to commission an international audit firm to investigate the scandal.
Finally, last September, Ernst and Young was officially tasked to audit the EPA operations. According to its special audit report, a total of 22 companies were involved in the theft of Sh133 billion in the 2005/6 financial year.
Of those, 13 companies received Sh90, 359,078,804 using forged documents, and while another nine unregistered companies were irregularly paid Sh42 billion.