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UK may close office probing Tanzania`s radar deal

Serious Fraud Office (SFO)There are reports that the UK government is working on proposals to close down its Serious Fraud Office, which is investigating the controversial sale of a radar system to Tanzania

By Guardian Reporter

 
There are reports that the UK government is working on proposals to close down its Serious Fraud Office (SFO)an agency which happens to be investigating the controversial sale of a radar system to Tanzania.

 

Informed sources in Great Britain told The Guardian of UK recently that ministers at Downing Street were considering disbanding the crucial office, with possibilities of merging its operations with other agencies.

 

The paper`s international edition of February 23, this year, quoted well-placed sources hinting that one of the proposals favored by the UKs Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is partially merging the SFO within the Serious and Organized Crime Agency (SOCA).

 

The source is quoted, as saying: `The remaining SFO lawyers would join the Crown Prosecution Service…Lord Goldsmith has ordered an independent review of the body, which will inform any decision.`

 

Contacted for further clarification yesterday as to how the move could affect efforts to enhance good governance in Tanzania, the British High Commission in Dar es Salaam could not give an immediate response.

 

An official from the high commission`s press unit promised to work on the matter and call back before we went to press. However, the call did not come.

 

News on plans to disband the agency came hardly a month after a heated debate in the House of Commons concerning the sale of a multi-billion civilian and military air control radar system to Tanzania by the UKs BAE Systems.

 

The debate followed a motion moved by Andrew Mitchell of the Conservative party in the House, following a peaceful demonstration organized by opposition parties in Tanzania to put pressure on the government of Tanzania to arrest and take legal action against wrong doers in the scandal.

 

`Our purpose in calling tonight`s debate is not only to hold the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) to account for his decision on this deal, but to help ensure that the mistakes made by the British Government in the handling of this issue do not happen again,` Mitchell, a Sutton Coldfield representative said.

 

Clare Short, the Ex-International Development Secretary (Birmingham, Ladywood, Independent Labour) told the House: `I should say to the House that the police came to see me and said that they have documents showing that it was bribery.`

 

SFO is currently investigating claims that BAE Systems bribed some Tanzanian officials and businessmen to help push the deal through, while knowing that the facility involved had used `ageing technology,` not adequate and too expensive.

 

Detectives from the UK, who had visited the country last year, interrogated two businessmenSailesh Vithlan and business partner Tanil Somaiya, who admitted that they had received payment for the deal.

 

The radar scandal started way back in 1999, when the government of Tanzania signed a contract with BAE Systems for a combined civilian and military-use radar system.

 

Two years later, a World Bank report was released, which concluded that the system offered poor value for money and was unsuitable for Tanzania`s needs.

 

The World Bank subsequently asked the International Civil Aviation Organisation for a more detailed report and in November 2001.

 

The ICAO report raised concerns about the project and recommended a further report.

 

During his recent official tour of Western Europe, President Jakaya Kikwete expressed Dar es Salaams concern over the issue and censured London `for allowing its company (BAE Systems) to `steal` poor Tanzanian tax-payers` money.

 

Source: Guardian

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