Dar: Judge orders missing suspect brought to court

The Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court has ordered the former CCM official to be brought before court to testify in the forgery and theft case of over 200m/- from the Central Bank’s External Payment Arrears account (EPA) after he went missing presumably sick in hospital.

Issuing the order at the start of the week, Chairman of the panel of three magistrates presiding over the case, Senior Resident Magistrate John Utamwa, said the former CCM official, Rajabu Maranda, who is one of the accused in the case, must testify.

The other two magistrates on the panel are Principal Resident Magistrates Ignas Kitusi and Eva Nkya who were absent during the issuance of the order. 

The prosecution had earlier called on the court to move the hearing to the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) where the defendant, Rajabu Maranda was supposedly admitted but before the court could do so, the defense again claimed  that the accused had been discharged and would appear in court.

However, when the hearing came to court on Monday of this week, the defense again claimed that Maranda had been re-admitted but failed to provide any supporting documents.

The defense also could not provide any details as to the whereabouts of another accused in the case Imani Mwakosya, former Head of the Bilateral and Commercial Department of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) who is the third accused in the case. 

However, his surety who signed the bail for him, Joseph Mwakosya, also claimed that the accused is sick and admitted to the same hospital MNH.

Apart from Mwakosya and Maranda, also charged in the case are the former BoT Deputy Director of Debt Department, Ester Komu and Secretaries to the bank, Bosco Kimela and Farijala Hussein.

It is alleged that the accused committed the offence between September 8, 2003 and August 18, 2008. 

They are accused of stealing Sh207, 284,391/44 from the BoT EPA account after presenting forged documents to show that Rashaz Company was assigned to collect the debt on behalf of an Indian company called General Marketing.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN