DPP raps Dar court over DECI appeal

THE Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has accused the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam of delaying the prosecution appeal against the judgment entered in a trial of five officials with the Development Entrepreneurship for Community Initiative (DECI).

The DPP, Dr Eliezer Feleshi, told the ‘Daily News’ that the court has not yet supplied the prosecution with the typed copy of the proceedings and case judgment for them to decide whether or not to continue prosecuting the appeal.

“Immediately after delivery of the judgment on August 19, last year, we lodged a notice of appeal and applied for being supplied with a copy of proceedings and judgment.

Since then, nothing has been done,” said Dr Feleshi. For that matter, he said, the prosecution would not lodge any appeal or decide otherwise before being supplied with such essential documents, which are required for either processing memorandum of appeal or not.

Though a conviction had been secured against DECI officials, Jackson Sifael Mtares, Dominick Kigendi, Timotheo Saigaran ole Loitginye and Samwel Sifael Mtares, the prosecution was aggrieved on a number of issues regarding the trial as analyzed by the trial magistrate.

Among orders which appeared to have aggrieved the prosecution include a directive to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to refund members of the public who had “sown seeds” (deposited money) with DECI.

The prosecution alleges that, none of the members of DECI was required to benefit because during operation of the pyramid scheme, both operators and members were committing offences.

On August 19, this year, Magistrate Sanga convicted the four officials, who were directors of DECI, of two counts of operating the scheme by receiving deposits and providing returns to people without a licence.

The magistrate sentenced them to pay a fine of 21m/- each or go to serve a custodial sentence of six years in default of paying the fine. He said he was satisfied by the evidence produced by 16 witnesses that the four committed the offences.

Magistrate Sanga directed the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to confiscate all accounts at various banks opened for DECI and seize all other assets owned by the company. According to the magistrate, the BoT should find ways of refunding members of DECI who had sown seeds upon verification of required receipts.

At the time the government intervened into the matter, DECI had over 400,000 members who the company owed over 92bn/-. In the first count, the accused persons were charged with receiving deposits and providing returns to people, while for the second count, they were accused of operating the pyramid scheme without licence.

During the trial, the prosecution had alleged that between 2007 and March 2009, at the headquarters of DECI at Mabibo area in the city, the convicts operated and managing the pyramid scheme in different places in the country.

The prosecution had charged that the convicts promised members of the public that they would harvest more money upon investing money.

The court was also told that within such period, the convicts received from public members such deposits without a licence.

Daily News: