Tanzania
linked to Italian Mafia dirty money of more than
20,892,561,983,-
T.shs.
Investigators
suspect the money was meant for buying diamonds, as one of the suspects was
found to have diamonds from Tanzania at his home in Italy.
Tanzania
security agencies are investigating how
millions of euros from an Italian political party were transferred into the
country through a foreign commercial bank and invested in the country.
Police have
learnt that around 10 million euros ($13 million) were transferred to Tanzania
in dubious circumstances. Information made available last week from Italy
indicates that the treasurer of the Northern League political party (which is
allied to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi), Francesco Belsito, is under
investigation for fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.
Italy’s
Guardia di Finanza (the financial unit of the tax police in Rome) is presently
investigating a questionable 4.5 million euro ($5.9 million) transfer to
Tanzania, while 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million) were sent to Cyprus and 1
million euros ($1.3 million) were invested in Norway Crowns.
Investigation by The EastAfrican in
Dar es Salaam showed that the money in question was sent to Tanzania through
Federal Bank of the Middle East (FBME) in Cyprus and then to FBME Bank in
Tanzania. Mr Belsito was apparently the one who deposited the money in the
Tanzania bank.
Tanzania’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
is investigating the case on suspicion of embezzlement, aggravated fraud
committed against the state and money laundering.
The chief prosecutor of Milan, Edmondo Bruti
Liberati, told The EastAfrican that three judicial offices,
co-ordinated by Milan assistant public prosecutor Alfredo Robledo and public
prosecutors Roberto Pellicano and Paolo Filippini, were investigating the case
alongside the financial police.
The other
investigators include prosecutors Henry John Woodcock and Vincenzo Piscitelli
for Naples with the Carabinieri from the NOE ecological operational unit;
Reggio Calabria prosecutor Giuseppe Lombardo with police officers from the DIA
intelligence unit are investigating possible financial fraud on cheques going
back and forth from Italy to FBME Bank in Tanzania.
Allegations
Mr Liberati
said that the investigators are investigating the Northern League over a raft
of charges of financial irregularities, fraud, embezzlement, and money
laundering.
The EastAfrican has been exclusively informed that some of the more
explosive allegations have to do with links to a Tanzanian businessman who is
in close contact with members of the De Stefano family, one of the most
powerful clans in the ‘Ndrangheta, the organised crime syndicate based in
Calabria, the toe of Italy.
Indeed, the
investments made in Cyprus and in Tanzania are being examined for possible
links to organised crime. According to Mr Liberati, all the transactions were
done in the last week of December 2011.
Mr Liberati
said the investigators started their investigation in April this year following
allegations that Umberto Bossi, the charismatic leader of Italy’s Northern
League, used taxpayers’ money to pay for improvements to his house and for
travel, dinners and hotel accommodation for his children.
“The claims,
based on evidence collected through wiretaps, came to light in a judicial
warrant issued for the search of the party’s headquarters in Milan,” said Mr
Liberati.
The money
transferred to the FBME Bank in Tanzania was frozen and then sent back to Italy
when the FIU and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), which monitors foreign currency
transactions, became suspicious of the large amount of money.
Investigators
suspect the money was meant for buying diamonds, as one of the suspects was
found to have diamonds from Tanzania at his home in Italy.
The
investigators further said that the Italian mafia approached the Tanzania
government proposing to invest $5.9 million in small scale mining for diamonds,
but the government rejected the offer.
Source: The East African
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