In March the prosecution case against former Minister of Public Works Nalaila Kiula and four others faltered in the High Court. Eight prosecution witnesses failed to substantiate the loss of 2.7bn/= alleged to have been occasioned by the accused persons between 1992 and 1995 through contracts for two roads. The first witness, Fariji William, Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCS) Chief for Dodoma Region, was not able to elaborate on how he investigated the losses. When he was cross­examined by a team of five defence lawyers, he said that further information which was ‘very technical’ would be brought to the court by other prosecution witnesses who were experts in that particular area of investigation.

In further evidence the wife of the former Minster was said to have been given an air ticket by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in 1994 for a three-week trip to Japan. This was done a year after the company had sold 118 cars to the Ministry, the court was told. The sixth prosecution witness, Laurent Ndalichako, a Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) official, told the Resident Magistrate’s Court that Kiula’s wife joined her husband’s official trip to Japan where he led the Tanzanian Delegation to a Communications Commission meeting. The witness said he had investigated the Minister’s salary particulars and allowances in the Ministry and other ministries where he had worked between 1971 and 1995 so as to compare the amount of money he had received with the value of property he possessed.

Ndalichako also revealed that Kiula and his family had eight bank accounts including two current accounts, a loan account and savings accounts for his four children, with a total amount of Shs 33 million according to five bank statements issued on 30 January 1996.

The 9th prosecution witness told the court on June 29 that the World Bank, which had provided finance for the integrated road project in Tanzania in 1991, had advised the Ministry of Works to exclude KV Construction Ltd from the list of bidders for pre­qualification to build the old Bagamoyo Road and New Bagamoyo Road. Former President Mwinyi had also questioned the credibility of the contractor. In spite of this, one year later, the road had been contracted to the company. The witness revealed that the contractor, apart from occasioning the government financial loss for not building the road, had not paid a Shs 385 million security bond to the National Insurance Corporation.

At this stage the defence asked for a month’s adjournment of the case so as to have enough time to study this testimony and the documents tendered as exhibits -The Guardian.