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| Finance Minister, Mr Mkulo |
Tanzania and the United Kingdom have agreed in principle to channel all
the £30 million (75bn/-) BAE system's compensation fund for air traffic control
system to the Tanzanian education sector development.
The compensation comes after the BAE was found guilty of false
accounting. After it was found guilty the company took the initiative of
setting up a panel to determine who
should be the recipient of the fund.
The Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Mustafa Mkulo told
the 'Sunday News' on Saturrday that the fund is expected to be received this
month after the signing of an agreement
with the High Commissioner in London in collaboration with the Treasury
and their counterparts in London any time from Sunday.
"The signing will lead to the release of the fund as per
documented agreement," Mr Mkulo said on Saturday.
Both parties agreed to
direct all the BAE money to the education
sector development.”He said the delay was necessitated by the fact that
the three ministries - Education, Local
Government and Treasury - had to sit together and map out the most
beneficial sector among other things.
"The components in the sector have been identified paving the way
for the signing protocol," Mr Mkulo said.
He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will lead the signing of the
same.According to the Agreement the fund will be paid 14 days after the signing
of the document.
The Finance Minister also confirmed as correct the story published on
Saturday by the UK's Telegraph saying that after two years of deliberations BAE
system is ready to pay the country's
compensation.
This was two years since it was found guilty and a year since the deal
was rubber-stamped at Southwark Crown Court According to the Telegraph, a question
in the House of Commons by Labour MP Hugh Bayley has revealed that BAE is to
expect to sign a memorandum of understanding with the government of Tanzania this month about
the £30m (75bn/-) payment.
Serious Fraud Office director Richard Alderman welcomed the news saying
he was "looking forward to the speedy resolution of this matter".Late
2010 the firm was fined £500,000 (1.25bn/-) by a London judge and must pay the
rest of an agreed £30 million (75bn/-) fine to Tanzania, to settle a long-running corruption probe by the Serious Fraud Office.
In 2001, Tanzanian government bought the military standard radar
equipment at a cost of £39.5million (98.75bn) from UK's BAE systems. BAE, a
British defence company, agreed to make
compensation of the sum as part of a settlement with the SFO.
Source: Sunday News,www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Abduel Elinaza
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