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Masamaki, others out on bail in tax evasion case

Tanzania Revenue Authority Commissioner of Customs and Excise Duties Tiagi Masamaki Kabisi sits on the dock at the Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO|OMAR FUNGO     

What you need to know:

They are all facing charges of causing loss to the government through container tax evasion

Dar es Salaam. The High Court has granted bail to three officials with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) after they fulfilled the set conditions for their release from remand prison. The four officials released on bail include TRA customs director Tiagi Masamaki, TRA customer services manager Habibu Mponezya and TRA customs monitoring manager Bulton Mponezya.

They are all facing charges of causing loss to the government after they allegedly allowed 329 containers to leave the Dar es Salaam Port before the necessary tariffs were paid for them.

The accused through their lawyers Majura Magafu and Alex Mgongolwa on December 15 applied for the bail at the High Court because the Kisutu Magistrate’s Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.

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High Court Judge Winfrida Koroso set the accused free on bail after they all met the bail terms. The bail terms required that each of the accused submit Sh2.16 billion in cash or documents of immovable assets with the same value. The accused submitted documents of six immovable assets all located in Dar es Salaam which are valued at Sh6.6 billion. The accused also surrendered their travelling documents to the court. The three were charged along with five other TRA and Azam Inland Container Depot (ICD) officials, with economic sabotage and causing a loss of Sh12.7 billion in unpaid taxes to the government.

The taxes were to be paid for the importation of 329 containers. The accused are alleged to have committed the offence between June 1 and November 17, this year. Other accused, who didn’t apply for bail, are TRA head of Customer Service Centre Habib Mponezya, 45, the TRA supervisor of Customs and Excise Duty at Azam ICD, Ms Eliachi Mrema, 31, TRA senior business analyst, Mr Hamis Omary, 48, the head of TRA ICT, Mr Haroun Mpande 28, the manager of ICD Operations and Security, Mr Raymond Adolf Louis, 39, and Azam ICD manager Ashraf Khan, 59.     

In the headlines