AfricaPress-Tanzania: PLEA bargaining to end the 1.4bn/- economic trial between former Director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation with Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Kulthum Mansoor and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are still going on.
This was revealed by Senior State Attorney Wankyo Simon at the Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday when the economic and money laundering trial under which the then PCCB director is facing came up for mention.
He further informed Senior Resident Magistrate Thomas Simba that investigation into the matter had not been completed and, thus, requested for another adjournment to allow plea bargaining to be concluded as well as investigation.
The magistrate granted the request and adjourned the case until May 12, 2020 for mention. Recently, Kulthum renewed her request to enter into plea bargaining agreement with the DPP by writing a letter to him, expressing the intention to plea bargaining with a view to disposing of the trial summarily.
In October 2019, the ex-PCCB director joined the boat of persons charged with economic and money laundering charges to utilise an amnesty granted by President John Magufuli. She wrote to the DPP, showing her intention to enter into the agreement.
The move was in terms of Section 194A(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA).
However, a month later the deal aborted for unknown reasons. Defence counsel Elia Mwingira informed the court that negotiations leading to the plea bargaining had not been concluded.
In the case, Kulthum is charged with eight counts of forgery, obtaining money by false pretences and money laundering of 1,477,243,000/-. Such offences are alleged to have been committed between January 2012 and May 2017 in the city of Dar es Salaam.
The prosecution alleges that between January 2013 and May 2018 at the PCCB headquarters within Ilala District, knowingly and with intent to deceive, the director forged a letter of offer, purporting to show that it was issued by Bagamoyo District Council, while it was untrue.
Between January 2012 and May 2017 in Upanga, Ilala District, being the PCCB director, by false pretences and with intent to defraud, the accused obtained 32.2m/-from different employees, Alex Mavika, Wakati Katondo, Gogo Migutah, Ekwabi Majungu, John Sangwa and Rose Shingela.
Such amount, according to the prosecution, was payment for the sale of plot situated at Ukuni Village in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region, with the accused falsely pretending to be the owner of the plot, the fact which she knew to be false.
On money laundering, the prosecution charges Kulthum that between January 2013 and May 2017 in Upanga, Ilala District, acquired 1,477,243,000/-while she knew or ought to have known at the time of receipt that the money was the proceeds of a predicate offence of forgery
