A minister in Tanzania resigned yesterday, following disclosures in the Guardian
that he was under investigation in worldwide corruption inquiries against the
British arms giant BAE.
Reuters in Dar es Salaam reported a statement from the office of President
Jakaya Kikwete, head of the impoverished east African state, that he had
accepted the resignation of infrastructure minister Andrew Chenge.
According to the statement, Chenge said that in addition to allegations made
against him, his love for his country and party had forced him to step aside.
A spokesman later told the BBC: "What we are hearing is mere allegations ... The
reason why people are taking responsibility is because we
have a very mature political system."
Chenge's resignation followed the identification by investigators of more than
$1m (£504,000) in his offshore accounts in Jersey.
Chenge described the sums as "small change" on his
return from accompanying the president on a visit to China.
The former attorney general denied that the cash was linked to secret commission
payments made by BAE to promote its sale of a $40m radar system in 2001.
The bank accounts of public officials in Tanzania are required to be disclosed
to an ethics secretariat. But yesterday's announcement did not answer questions
raised by local media as to whether Chenge's deposits had in fact been
registered.
The Serious Fraud Office in London has been investigating the Tanzanian deal
from more than three years, along with the Tanzanian anti-corruption bureau in
Dar es Salaam, and authorities in the Channel Islands and Switzerland.
Other allegations have been made against BAE in South
Africa, the Czech Republic, Chile and Romania.
The Serious Fraud Office's new head, Richard Alderman, is due to tell the high
court on Thursday whether ministers accept the court's ruling that the SFO
should never have dropped its main BAE investigation, into Saudi Arabia.
Lord Justice Moses, with Lord Justice Sullivan, said that the
"abject surrender" to threats
from Saudi Arabia had been unlawful, and may have been merely a
ministerial "pretext" to suppress a politically
inconvenient criminal investigation.
However, ministers have so far refused to say that they accept the court's
ruling. Instead, they have floated proposals to overturn
it by changing the law, and allowing the attorney general to close down
investigations merely if a minister declares that "national security" is
involved.
If the SFO announces an intention to appeal on Thursday, this may defer a
decision on reopening the Saudi investigation until the proposed new law passes
through the UK parliament.
BAE has refused to comment on the Tanzanian allegations, other than to reiterate
claims that it is cooperating with the SFO investigation.
BAE saw its lobbying succeed against the Saudi
investigation, where lucrative future arms deals were in the pipeline. But the
impoverished state of Tanzania has no comparable diplomatic weapons to wield:
its budget depends on British aid.
About this article This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday April 22 2008 on p7 of the
UK news section. It was last updated at 00:07 on April 22 2008.
With acknowledgements to David Leigh, Rob Evans
and The Guardian.