AfricaPress-Tanzania: FORMER Commissioner General of Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Harry Kitilya and four other co-accused persons are to be released from remand prison today after paying 1.5bn/- compensation to the government following their conviction of causing loss of six million US dollars.
Others who will also be released includes Shose Sinare, who was former Head of Investment Banking at Stanbic Bank, Sioi Solomon, ex- Chief Legal Counsel to the bank, Bedason Shallanda, who is Commissioner for Policy Analysis-Debt with the Ministry of Finance and his Assistant Alfred Misana.
Their release comes after having entered into a plea bargaining agreement with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to plead guilty to one count of occasioning loss to a specified authority, out of a total of 58 charges they were facing before the High Court’s Corruption and Economic Crime Division.
Having pleading guilty, Judge Immaculata Banzi convicted them on their own plea of guilty and, in addition to paying jointly the 1.5bn/- compensation, also sentenced them to either pay 1m/- each as fine or serve six months jail term in default of paying the fine in question.
Before entering into the agreement, the accused persons were facing charges of leading organized crime, forgery, uttering false documents, use of documents intended to mislead principal, obtaining money by false pretences, money laundering and occasioning loss to a specified authority.
Kitilya alone was facing 43 money laundering counts, Shose, who is also the former Miss Tanzania was charged with two counts of forgery, two counts of uttering false documents and five money laundering counts.
Kitilya, Shose and Solomon jointly faced one forgery counts.
Shallanda and Misana jointly faced one count of use of documents intended to mislead principal, while all five accused persons are jointly facing one count of leading organized crime, one count of money laundering, obtaining money by false pretences and occasioning loss to the government.
