Ethics team can’t grill me: Chenge

Mr Andrew John Chenge, a Harvard law graduate and former Attorney General 

Dar es Salaam (The Citizen). To many, it was simply a battle between a suspect and a commission. To the legal fraternity, it was a legal tussle involving a former attorney general and a group of lawyers led by a retired judge.

This is what transpired when Mr Andrew John Chenge, a Harvard law graduate and former Attorney General, faced the Public Leadership Ethics Commission yesterday. He was there to explain why he was paid $1 million (Sh1.6 billion) by a businessman connected to the company he advised the government to grant a lucrative and expensive power supply tender in the 1990s.

As the attorney general, Mr Chenge had the final say on any contract the government wanted to seal with any party. Mr Chenge was the government’s chief legal adviser until he retired in 2005 and became a Member of Parliament.

When he faced the commission yesterday, he was more than just a mere suspect. He was a former AG, the current MP for Bariadi West and, above all, an experienced lawyer. Shortly after commission lawyer Hassan Mayunga read the charges Mr Chenge faced, the latter raised an objection, saying it was unlawful for a government institution to discuss matters relating to Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) and the escrow saga.

Mr Chenge quoted an injunction issued by the High Court in November last year which, among other things, barred Parliament from debating the escrow report that was scheduled to be tabled by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The injunction was issued after Pan Africa Power Solutions Tanzania Limited, the company that claimed to have bought IPTL shares, rushed to court in a desperate bid to block Parliament from debating the escrow report.

Though Mr Chenge was not party to that order, he managed yesterday to put the commission on the defensive, leading to the adjournment of the session until today, when the ruling will be issued.

This morning, Mr Chenge gets to know whether the commission will continue grilling him for allegedly obtaining billions of shillings. It could also be a dead end for the State’s attempt to nail those who received the cash bounty from Mr James Rugemalira.

Before a three-man bench led by Judge (rtd) Hamis Msumi, Mr Mayunga testified that when he was the AG, Mr Chenge advised the government to sign a 20-year contract with IPTL to supply the nation’s electricity. Mr Chenge retired on December 24, 2005, and signed a contract in 2006 with VIP Engineering and Marketing to become the company’s legal consultant.

VIP Engineering and Marketing owned 30 percent shares of IPTL, which was contrary to Section 6(j) of the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act that bars such officials from carrying themselves in such a manner as to bring the service to ridicule or take improper advantage of their previous office after they leave office. Leaders are also not allowed to engage in matters that amount to conflict of interest.

Mr Chenge reportedly received Sh1.6 billion from a prominent businessman, Mr James Rugemalira. Section 12 states that a public leader will be considered to have breached the Code of Conduct if he knowingly acquires any significant financial advantage or assists in the acquisition of any such advantage by another person by soliciting or accepting transfers of economic benefit, other than benefits of nominal value, including customary hospitality and traditional or token gifts.

Immediately after the charges were read before the commission, a legal tussle between Mr Chenge--a professional lawyer--and the secretariat’s legal counsel ensued after the latter submitted a court order that barred any other organ from deliberating on the IPTL matter until the main case is heard and determined.

Mr Chenge charged that the order, issued by the High Court, stands at least until the court hears the main case on the matter.

“What I know is that this matter is still pending in court and there is a court order barring government institutions, including this commission, from deliberating on it,” said the soft-spoken Bariadi West MP. “As a lawyer, I will be surely disturbed if we continue debating it here.”

But the Ethics Secretariat lawyers disputed the submission by the Bariadi East lawmaker and insisted that the court order had nothing to do with the secretariat because the matter before the commission was based on the ethics of public leaders and not civil or criminal matters that ought to be heard and determined in the courts.

Quoting various provisions of the constitution and those of the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act, Mr Mayunga said: “The allegations before this commission typically concern the violation of the code of ethics by public leaders, therefore the court order that he is talking about is of least concern here.” He was backed by lawyers Filotheus Manula and Getiruda Cyriacus.

After a heated debate, Judge Msumi postponed the session and is expected to rule on the matter this morning. If the commission rules in favour of Mr Chenge, other officials who are expected to appear before the commission over the same matter will heave a sigh of relief and the commission will come to a standstill.

Mr Chenge is on the list of senior public figures who received cash withdrawn from the Tegeta escrow account courtesy of Mr Rugemalira.

They too will be grilled by the Ethics Commission. Other officials who will appear before the commission are Prof Anna Tibaijuka and Mr William Ngeleja. Prof Tibaijuka is expected to be grilled today.

The list also includes State House Comptroller Shaban Gurumo, the Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Lands and Human Settlement Development, Mr Rugonzibwa Theophil Mujunangoma, Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship agency (Rita) Director-General Philip Saliboko, Deputy Commissioner for Tax and Investigations at TRA Loicy Appollo and the Director of Economic Affairs at the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority, Mr Benedict Diu.