OFFSHORE billions: Switzerland reacts, Authorities in Switzerland have given their Tanzanian counterparts tough conditions

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Zitto Kabwe

 Authorities in Switzerland have given their Tanzanian counterparts tough conditions, which should be implemented, before the Swiss could cooperate in tracing the stolen billions allegedly being kept in offshore banks, The Guardian on Sunday has learnt.

According to documents availed to The Guardian on Sunday, one of the conditions is that Tanzanian authority should furnish Switzerland authorities with names of those who stashed the alleged stolen billions into the country’s banks.

Secondly, Tanzanian authorities should also have concrete proof that the billions were fraudulently or corruptly obtained. This includes, among other things; who bribed who, how the bribe was transacted and above all the evidence that shows whether the transaction originated from the alleged oil companies.

In a two-page response filed by the Swiss government to Tanzanian authorities, it is stated clearly that without fulfilling the aforementioned conditions, there would be no cooperation forthcoming from the Swiss – by way of tracing the billions alleged to have been stolen.

The Swiss government’s move comes at a time when the Parliament last week tasked the government to conduct thorough investigation to establish the identity (names) of Tanzanian personalities holding offshore bank accounts and the amounts held.

The major objective of the investigation should be to establish if the opening of the accounts followed proper procedures, and whether the money so stashed accrued legally.

The government agreed to carry out the assignment and report back to the parliament in April following fierce debate over a private motion tabled by Kigoma North MP Zitto Kabwe late Thursday evening in the august House. One of the terms of reference requires the government to report back to Parliament in April next year when, if MPs aren’t satisfied with the findings, then a Select Committee would be formed to carry out the task.

In carrying out the investigation, the government has agreed to use private investigators and other diplomatic means to achieve the desired results. Zitto who said Kenya, France and Senegal succeeded to bring back their stolen billions through such assistance proposed the use of such private investigators.

But the stance taken by the Swiss government casts a large cloud of doubt on whether there would be any breakthrough in tracing the so-called stolen billions of shillings.

Neither the government of Tanzania nor the opposition lawmaker, Zitto Kabwe, have the full list of the Tanzanians who have kept their billions in Swiss banks, according to details gathered by the Guardian on Sunday for the past few weeks.

In its letter to the Tanzanian authority, the Swiss government further stated that local banks handle millions of customers -- including foreigners -- and it would therefore be baseless to trace the alleged looted billions without having enough details of those suspected.

The Swiss authority also added that the much-publicized disclosure of amount of millions of dollars kept in its banks was just an annual report by its own Central Bank, which shows the amount every country has banked there.

The Central Bank’s annual report doesn’t name individuals or their bank account details and therefore cannot be taken as enough evidence to trace the money allegedly stolen from Tanzania.

Contacted by the Guardian on Sunday, this week, the Director General of Prevention and Combating of Corruption, Dr Edward Hosea said, “I would like to urge any individual including Honourable Zitto who have evidence to give us the names so that we can trace the allegedly billions in Swiss banks.”

“So far we have tried very hard since August, this year, but what is missing is the exact list of those who stashed their billions.” Dr Hosea added

“As a chief investigator I need concrete evidence to confront the Swiss authority but without credible proof, it would difficult for us to win this case.” The anti corruption Czar further told the Guardian on Sunday.

In June this year the National Bank of Switzerland released information about various people in the world holding bank accounts in which it was revealed that Tanzanian individuals had stashed away a total of US $196million ( Sh 314 billion ).

However, according to the latest information availed to Zitto on Thursday by his whistle blowers, the amount announced by the National Bank of Switzerland on June is 20 times the exact figure.

Citing an example, Zitto said UBS has 240 officials dealing with Tanzanian individuals transacting with the bank. Each UBS official deals with a Tanzanian individual with not less than US $10million.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY