Tanzanian Association Oslo

Chenge`s key role

in radar deal

FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL PROVIDED LEGAL
ADVICE IN FAVOUR OF DUBIOUS TRANSACTION

THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

THE Minister for Infrastructure Development, Andrew Chenge, was responsible for giving crucial legal advice to the Tanzanian government in 2002 during the purchase of the controversial military radar system currently at the centre of local and international corruption investigations, it has been revealed.

Chenge, who was the government’s chief legal advisor as Attorney General when the 28 million pounds sterling (approx. 70bn/-) radar was purchased, gave advice on key aspects of the transaction, which ultimately led to the approval of the deal by the Cabinet.

The advice given by the then AG in the radar deal involved the ’’jurisdiction clause of the Supply and Financing Agreement and Performance Bond,’’ several independent sources have told THISDAY.

It is understood that Chenge’s advice on jurisdiction was very crucial to the deal and he also gave key advice on whether the financing of the radar deal by a commercial loan was compatible with Tanzania’s application for debt relief from the West.

At the time Tanzania was buying the overpriced radar, former President Benjamin Mkapa’s government had successfully applied for substantial debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

Following Chenge’s advice, the government opted to proceed with the radar deal despite fierce opposition from the World Bank and key politicians in the United Kingdom, including current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former international development secretary Clare Short.

Short said the sale, for which Tanzania had to borrow yet more from a commercial bank, was corrupt and ’’stank’’.

Despite massive criticism against the deal, the Tanzanian government went ahead and financed the purchase through a loan from Barclays Bank.

Investigators have been probing allegations that the payment of more than $1m (over 1.2bn/-) in Chenge’s offshore bank accounts coincided exactly with the time he gave advice to the Tanzanian government in favour of the radar deal.

’’It has been alleged that the huge payments to Chenge came at the very same time he gave the key legal advice to the government on the purchase of the radar system,’’ said one of our sources.

According to well-placed government sources, Chenge’s American and British lawyers have maintained that the minister was not responsible for promoting the purchase of the military radar from the UK’s leading arms manufacturer, BAE Systems.

The minister’s foreign lawyers have been identified as J Lewis Madorsky from Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States and Goodman Derrick LLP from the United Kingdom.

However, the lawyers admitted that Chenge, serving as Tanzania’s AG at the time of the radar deal, gave legal advice to the government on at least two aspects of the radar deal.

’’Chenge’s American and British lawyers claim that the decision to buy the military radar system was made by the full Cabinet and a recommendation in favour of the transaction was made by the Cabinet to president Mkapa, who authorised the deal,’’ said a source familiar with Chenge’s defence strategy on the corruption allegations.

He added: ’’The minister’s lawyers argue that their client was not involved in anyway whatsoever in the negotiations to acquire the radar system, apart from giving legal advice to the government as part of discharging his normal duties as Attorney General.’’

On the other hand, the fact that the minister is able to afford the services of reputable British and American law firms to defend him against the radar allegations has heightened public speculation about the extent of his personal fortune.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is expected to decide whether to bring fresh corruption charges against BAE Systems within six weeks over the Tanzanian radar deal.

British investigators involved in a three-year inquiry over the controversial deal have identified more than $1m in Jersey accounts controlled by Chenge.


The minister has denied that the money in his offshore accounts came from the UK arms manufacturer. However, Chenge does not dispute the money in his offshore accounts.

This has prompted the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to contact authorities in the UK, Switzerland and Jersey, to establish if the money is linked to multi-million pound secret commission payments made by BAE.

A lengthy SFO investigation in the UK subsequently discovered that around $12m (approx. 15bn/-) of the deal’s contract price had been diverted via Switzerland.

BAE secretly transferred the money to a Swiss bank account controlled by a British middleman, Shailesh Vithlani.

Investigators are now checking whether Vithlani arranged to pass any money in turn to Chenge and other Tanzanian politicians and officials to approve the radar deal.

Sources said the bank in Jersey had promptly frozen transactions and filed a suspicious activity report when the Tanzanian inquiries began.


Vithlani, who grew up in Tanzania but holds a British passport, is listed as wanted by Interpol.

He has been charged with multiple counts of perjury and lying to an investigating officer at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam. His current whereabouts are unknown, although he was recently spotted in Switzerland.