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| AG Warema |
The Attorney General (AG) has intervened in a dispute
surrounding the sale of the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) building by
filing an application at the High Court's Commercial Division, seeking to be
joined in the case to protect government's property.
Surprisingly, the AG was not involved in the case since the
beginning, while the parties knew the litigation involved government property.
"We are now asking to be joined so that we defend
government's interests," Mr Malata told the 'Daily News' later after the court
session. The judge has set March 1, this year, as the date for hearing of the
application.
The building, which is the subject matter in the case, is
situated on Ohio Street in Dar es Salaam City centre. In the case, Leisure
Tours and Holidays Limited is pushing for payments of over 1.2bn/- from ATCL
being a debt that arose from the car rental services it had provided.
Through its advocate, Jerome Msemwa, the company had applied
for attachment and sale of the building to recover the money, but Judge Makaramba
directed that an evaluation should be carried out first to determine its value
before issuing any other order.
The report on the evaluation exercise was to be filed in
court on February 19, this year, but the tour operator company failed to do so,
on claims that the ATCL management had refused to allow the appointed valuers
to perform their duties effectively.
But the ATCL Acting Managing Director, Captain Milton
Lazaro, described the claims as baseless. He said no one was denied access into
the building to conduct the evaluation as ordered by the Court. "We cannot
go against the court order.
I have not seen such people coming here for the inspection
and denied them access. I even asked my colleagues whether there were such
people who came and denied entrance. So it is not true," the acting MD was
quoted as saying.
It was alleged that on January 16, 2008, the ATCL admitted
an outstanding amount of 313,759 US dollars and made a commitment to settle the
amount in three installments from February to April 2008. But later, through a
letter, the tour operator company adjusted the amount unpaid to 321,016 US
dollars.
On March 31, 2008, according to the plaint of the suit, the
tour operator company demanded from the ATCL a sum of 367,097 US dollars due to
further invoices rendered in the period between January 17 and March 31, 2008,
plus interests of two per cent.
But ATCL responded through e-mail dated March 31, confirming
inability to pay the amount. On May 30, 2008, the amount accrued and ATCL
acknowledged the outstanding amount of 418,305 US dollars and offered to pay
30,000 US dollars on June 6, 2008 and 5,000 US dollars every week on Friday's
thereafter.
The tour operator company agreed to the ATCL proposal and
demanded an interest of 1.5 per cent per month on the outstanding amount.
By
e-mail, the tour operator company notified ATCL on June 20, 2008 of the irregularity
of paying installments, which it had promised and by February 3, 2009, the
amount accrued to 596,382 US dollars. Leisure Tours and Holidays Limited,
thereafter, filed the suit demanding payments.
Source: The Daily News, www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Faustine Kapama in Dar es Salaam
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