KAMPUNI kubwa ya ulinzi ya Ulaya,BAE Systems, inandaa namna ya kuilipa serikali ya Tanzania fidia ya shilingi bilioni 67.29 (paundi milioni...
KAMPUNI kubwa ya ulinzi ya Ulaya,BAE Systems, inandaa namna ya kuilipa serikali ya Tanzania fidia ya shilingi bilioni 67.29 (paundi milioni 30) baada ya kesi yake kumalizika leo.
Malipo hayo yanatokana na sharti la kwanza la makubaliano kati ya kampuni hiyo n a Taasisi ya Kuchunguza Makosa makubwa ya jinai ya Uingereza, SFO.
Kauli hiyo imetolewa baada ya kampuni hiyo kuhukumiwa kulipa faini ya Paundi 500,000 au Dola za Marekani 775,000, sawa na shilingi bilioni 1.12 baada ya kukiri kosa la ‘kushindwa kuweka kwa usahihi kumbukumbu za manunuzi.’
Mpango wa ununuzi wa rada kwa ajili ya Tanzania ulikuwa na thamani ya dola milioni 40 sawa na paundi milioni 28.
Mahakama ilitoa hukumu hiyo kwa kuzingatia shauri la kutoweka taarifa vyema. Suala la kutoa mlungula halikufikishwa ambalo awali lilitawala uchunguzi wa SFO halikufikishwa mahakamani.
Jaji David Bean alisema itakuwa ni kuukataa ukweli kufikiri kuwa wakala wa BAE nchini Tanzania, Shailesh Vithlani, alilipwa mamilioni ya dola eti kwa sababu tu anajua kuunganisha vyema masuala ya biashara.
BAE ilikubali kwamba inawezekana kwamba sehemu ya dola milioni 12.4 (waliyomlipa Vithlani) ilitumika kwa ajili kuisaidia kupata zabuni hiyo.
Hata hivyo waendesha mashtaka wamesema kwamba ni vigumu sana kuweza kujua Vithlani alifanya nini na fedha hizo na wala hawakuiwakilisha kwamba sehemu ya fedha hizo zilitumika vibaya.
Kampuni ya BAE imesema kwamba imefurahishwa na shauri hilo kumalizwa na kwamba inaandaa utaratibu wa kuilipa Tanzania fedha zake.
endelea na chiinglish
The fine brings to end a proces started in February, when BAE agreed to plead guilty to "breaching its duty to keep accounting records" for the radar deal in Tanzania.
BAE also agreed at the time to pay a $400m fine to the US, after admitting to "defrauding the US" over the sale of fighter planes to Saudi Arabia and Eastern Europe."
As a result, the SFO and US Department of Justice ended their investigations into bribery and corruption by BAE.
Yesterday, the High Court judge presiding over the the settlement questioned the evidence and terms of the SFO's plea bargain with BAE.
Mr Justice Bean threatened to call a halt to the sentencing of BAE, questioning whether he could continue on the basis of the facts before him. Although he continued with the sentencing it was not before tearing into the evidence presented by the prosecution.
"My overriding feeling is that you cannot sentence with this evidence," Mr Justice Bean said. "The proposition that the Crown cannot prove to criminal standard that corrupt payments were made is one thing. To say that those payments were not properly used is another.
"There is a big gap."
The SFO's deal with BAE involved the company paying a £30m fine after pleading guilty to failing to keep proper accounting records. The accounting records relate to $12.4m paid to a "marketing agent" in Tanzania, Shailesh Vithlani, to facilitate an air traffic control deal with the country.
Fedha hizo zililipwa kwa makampuni ya Vithlani ya British Virgin Islands na kampuni ya Merlin iliyosajiliwa Tanzania.
The court heard covert agents were hired by BAE in a number of circumstances; when it was illegal to employ them overtly; because of tax implications arising from the agent making undeclared payments to third parties; or to avoid "embarrassment and press interest" due to large fees being paid.
The normal limit on payments to covert agents was 20pc of the price of a contract. Because Mr Vithlani's fee was 30pc it was personally authorised by BAE's then chairman Sir Richard Evans.
Mr Justice Bean also questioned the terms of a widespread indemnity agreed between BAE and the SFO to preclude certain further prosecutions relating to the case.
Through cases such as BAE and earlier this year, Innospec and Robert Dougall, the SFO has tried to establish a precedent for plea bargaining in UK law.
In the Dougall corruption case, Judge Bean, the same judge sitting in the BAE case, turned an agreed suspended sentence into a prison term.
A £12.7m fine agreed with chemical company Innospec was branded "inadequate".
Malipo hayo yanatokana na sharti la kwanza la makubaliano kati ya kampuni hiyo n a Taasisi ya Kuchunguza Makosa makubwa ya jinai ya Uingereza, SFO.
Kauli hiyo imetolewa baada ya kampuni hiyo kuhukumiwa kulipa faini ya Paundi 500,000 au Dola za Marekani 775,000, sawa na shilingi bilioni 1.12 baada ya kukiri kosa la ‘kushindwa kuweka kwa usahihi kumbukumbu za manunuzi.’
Mpango wa ununuzi wa rada kwa ajili ya Tanzania ulikuwa na thamani ya dola milioni 40 sawa na paundi milioni 28.
Mahakama ilitoa hukumu hiyo kwa kuzingatia shauri la kutoweka taarifa vyema. Suala la kutoa mlungula halikufikishwa ambalo awali lilitawala uchunguzi wa SFO halikufikishwa mahakamani.
Jaji David Bean alisema itakuwa ni kuukataa ukweli kufikiri kuwa wakala wa BAE nchini Tanzania, Shailesh Vithlani, alilipwa mamilioni ya dola eti kwa sababu tu anajua kuunganisha vyema masuala ya biashara.
BAE ilikubali kwamba inawezekana kwamba sehemu ya dola milioni 12.4 (waliyomlipa Vithlani) ilitumika kwa ajili kuisaidia kupata zabuni hiyo.
Hata hivyo waendesha mashtaka wamesema kwamba ni vigumu sana kuweza kujua Vithlani alifanya nini na fedha hizo na wala hawakuiwakilisha kwamba sehemu ya fedha hizo zilitumika vibaya.
Kampuni ya BAE imesema kwamba imefurahishwa na shauri hilo kumalizwa na kwamba inaandaa utaratibu wa kuilipa Tanzania fedha zake.
endelea na chiinglish
The fine brings to end a proces started in February, when BAE agreed to plead guilty to "breaching its duty to keep accounting records" for the radar deal in Tanzania.
BAE also agreed at the time to pay a $400m fine to the US, after admitting to "defrauding the US" over the sale of fighter planes to Saudi Arabia and Eastern Europe."
As a result, the SFO and US Department of Justice ended their investigations into bribery and corruption by BAE.
Yesterday, the High Court judge presiding over the the settlement questioned the evidence and terms of the SFO's plea bargain with BAE.
Mr Justice Bean threatened to call a halt to the sentencing of BAE, questioning whether he could continue on the basis of the facts before him. Although he continued with the sentencing it was not before tearing into the evidence presented by the prosecution.
"My overriding feeling is that you cannot sentence with this evidence," Mr Justice Bean said. "The proposition that the Crown cannot prove to criminal standard that corrupt payments were made is one thing. To say that those payments were not properly used is another.
"There is a big gap."
The SFO's deal with BAE involved the company paying a £30m fine after pleading guilty to failing to keep proper accounting records. The accounting records relate to $12.4m paid to a "marketing agent" in Tanzania, Shailesh Vithlani, to facilitate an air traffic control deal with the country.
Fedha hizo zililipwa kwa makampuni ya Vithlani ya British Virgin Islands na kampuni ya Merlin iliyosajiliwa Tanzania.
The court heard covert agents were hired by BAE in a number of circumstances; when it was illegal to employ them overtly; because of tax implications arising from the agent making undeclared payments to third parties; or to avoid "embarrassment and press interest" due to large fees being paid.
The normal limit on payments to covert agents was 20pc of the price of a contract. Because Mr Vithlani's fee was 30pc it was personally authorised by BAE's then chairman Sir Richard Evans.
Mr Justice Bean also questioned the terms of a widespread indemnity agreed between BAE and the SFO to preclude certain further prosecutions relating to the case.
Through cases such as BAE and earlier this year, Innospec and Robert Dougall, the SFO has tried to establish a precedent for plea bargaining in UK law.
In the Dougall corruption case, Judge Bean, the same judge sitting in the BAE case, turned an agreed suspended sentence into a prison term.
A £12.7m fine agreed with chemical company Innospec was branded "inadequate".
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