TZW
The businessman has moved the court to grant him a number of reliefs, notably the order allowing him to amend the notice of appeal and memorandum of appeal against the refusal by the High Court’s Economic, Corruption and Organised Crime Division to grant him bail.
In his application, Rugemalira is also requesting the appellate court, which is the highest temple of justice in the country, to allow him to join his co-accused person in the trial, Harbinder Sethi, in the records of appeal.
But when the application was called on for hearing before Justices Bernard Luanda, Batuel Mmilla and Gerald Ndika, the prosecutions led by Principal State Attorney, Dr Zainabu Mango, raised a preliminary objection, requesting the court to “strike out” such legal action. Other members of the team include Principal State Attorneys Peter Maugo and Tumaini Kweka and State Attorney Elizabeth Mkunda. They told the court that the application was incompetent for non-citation of proper provisions of law.
According to the trial attorneys, the application was “omnibus”in that the businessman has failed to properly move the court to determine his request and that the cited provisions are irrelevant and could not confer the court with powers to entertain the matter. In a surprising move, however, Rugemalira, who has a number of advocates representing him in different cases, stood by himself in yesterday’s proceedings.
In front of his lawyers, the businessman asked the court to dismiss the preliminary objection presented by the prosecutions for lacking merits. He forcefully argued that the provision under which the prosecutions have relied upon to support the objection in question was irrelevant and that no sufficient grounds have been advanced to back up their position.
He maintained that his application is properly before the court. After hearing the arguments from both parties, the justices said they would deliver their ruling on a date to be announced later after going through the competing submission presented in the matter. In the trial, the two businessmen are facing 12 counts of conspiracy, leading organised crime, forgery, uttering a false document, obtaining money by false pretences, occasioning loss to a specified authority and money laundering.
Between October 18, 2011 and March 19, 2014, at various places in Dar es Salaam in the United Republic of Tanzania and various places in Republic of Kenya, South Africa and the Republic of India, jointly and together, they allegedly conspired to commit an offence obtaining money by false pretences.
Within the same period in the city of Dar es Salaam, the prosecution alleged, being not public officials but in collusion with public officers, all accused persons intentionally and knowingly managed, financed and furthered the objectives of a criminal racket with intent to reap profit or other benefit.
Between November 29, 2013 and January 23, 2014 at Stanbic Bank Limited, Centre Branch in Kinondoni District and at Mkombozi Commercial Bank PLC, St. Joseph Branch in Ilala District, by false pretences, all accused persons obtained 22,198,544.60 US dollars and 309,461,300,158/27.