Keep off Prof Mahalu, court orders PCCB

The Kisutu Resident Magistrate`s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday ordered the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau to stop harassing Prof Costa Ricky Mahalu and his co-accused, Grace Martin.

It has further ordered the bureau to supply the defence with the professor`s statement on the issue by this Friday.

The order was issued by Principal Resident Magistrate Sivangilwa Mwangesi following complaints made in court by the defence.

The professor is the immediate former Tanzanian ambassador to Italy, while Ms Martin served under him as counsellor.

The duo are facing several counts in the court, among them corruption, conspiracy, forgery and causing the Government a pecuniary loss of Euro 2,065,827.60.

The defence counsel, led by advocate Alex Mgongolwa, had earlier asked the court to order the prosecution to issue them with the complainants` statement.

It said the statement would enable the accused to understand the nature of the charges against them in readiness for the case.

Mgongolwa submitted that the memorandum of facts previously given to them by the prosecution showed no list of exhibits to be tendered in court during the trial and that the number of witnesses and their names were also not disclosed.

He said there could be a fair trial only if the prosecution served the accused with the statement and the names of the witnesses.

The counsel explained that, although the case was already in court, some PCCB officials were harassing the accused by ordering them to list down their property at their office.

Responding to the arguments by the defence, PCCB official Abubakari Msangi admitted that the law allows the prosecution to serve the accused with the complainants` statement but the complainant in this case was the Republic.

Disclosing the list of exhibits and the names of the witnesses would endanger the witnesses and the proceedings, he said, adding: `We have not been harassing the accused when calling them for interrogation in our office. It was just a normal investigation procedure.`

In his ruling, the magistrate said the conducting of a preliminary hearing was meant to ensure there was a fair trial and it was thus mandatory for the prosecution to issue the defence with the complainants� statement.

`The case shall not be tried if the accused is not fully informed of the case he is facing,�` he declared, adding that there was no law saying it was mandatory for the prosecution to issue the exhibits and witnesses` names.

Mwangesi said the prosecution was not allowed to intervene in a matter already in court unless the accused were believed to have committed another offence while the previous case was still pending in court.

It is claimed that Prof Mahalu and Ms Martin on different dates and places in Italy, Tanzania and various other countries, conspired to steal from the United Republic of Tanzania.

It is also claimed that on September 23, 2002 while in Rome, with intent to defraud, the accused used payment voucher no. D2/9 containing false material to show that the purchase price of the Tanzanian Embassy building in the Italian capital was Euro 3,098,741.58.

Another charge is that on October 1, 2002 the accused, while at the Tanzanian Embassy in Rome as employees of the United Republic of Tanzania, with intent to deceive, used a sales contract and a receipt containing false particulars to show that the Tanzanian embassy building in Rome was valued at Euro 3,098,741.58.