An Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Division court in Tanzania on Wednesday sentenced two men to 315 years in jail each after they were found guilty of 105 forgery cases and tax evasion of TSh12.7 billion (Ksh519 million).
The two men committed the offenses while working for Azam ICD inland port.
The court further ordered that the convicts pay a fine of Tsh6.35 billion (Ksh275 million) after serving their sentences, Tanzania’s IPP Media reports.
That amount, the court says, is half the monetary losses they caused to Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
The ruling was issued by Judge Winfrida Korosso.
The convicts are Raymond Louis, who was the security operations manager at Azam ICD and Yusufu Louis, a staff member at the inland port company.
The two men also faced charges of money laundering.
“I hereby sentence the two suspects to serve three years in jail each for all the 105 crimes they committed. [The sentences would run separately]. The suspects will also serve another three years for tax evasion,” ruled judge Korosso.
The judge said, to arrive at the ruling, she relied on 34 witnesses, who corroborated each other’s testimonies.
The court, however, freed two suspects who were facing similar charges, saying the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to incriminate them.
The freed suspects are Haroun Mpande, who was an ICT staff at TRA and Hamis Omary a former accountant at TRA.
Hawa watazaliwa kama wameendelea na jela tu.— teddy nyandega (@TeddyNyandega) March 28, 2019
The judge said she considered the convicts’ appeal to have the court rule that they have already served three years in jail, in which they were under remand.
The court heard that the convicts illegally sneaked out 329 containers from Azam ICD inland port in Sokoto and tried to convince authorities that due procedure, including tax payments, had been observed.