Court acquits Tido Mhando of all charges
Former director-general of the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) Tido Mhando has Friday on January 25, 2019, been acquitted by the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam after finding him not guilty of occasioning a loss of Sh887 million to the government.
Mr Mhando has been acquitted of other four charges of abuse of office he was facing, therefore, walking outside the court as a free person.
He appeared for the first time before the court on January 26, 2018, facing five counts of abuse of office and the fifth count of occasioning a loss of Sh887 million to the government when he was head of the public broadcaster.
The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) lawyer, Leonard Swai, alleged before the court’s Resident Magistrate-in-Charge, Victoria Nongwa, that on June 16, 2008 in Dubai, the UAE, Mr Mhando – being an employee of TBC– deliberately abused his position by signing a contractual agreement for running and broadcasting TV programmes between the state broadcaster and Channel 2 group Corporation (BV1) without announcing a tender, contrary to the procurement laws, as he enabled BVl to gain profits.
In the second charge, it was alleged that, on June 20, 2008 in the course of the execution of his duties, Mr Mhando abused his official position by signing a contractual agreement on global digital broadcasting between TBC and BVl.
In the third charge, it was stated that, on August 11, 2008 and in September 2008, Mr Mhando is alleged to have abused his power by signing a contractual agreement (increasing heads of contract) on purchasing, the installation of, distribution equipment and a broadcasting tower between TBC and BVI.
In the fourth charge, it was alleged that, on Nov 16, 2008 while in Dubai, Mr Mhando abused his power by signing a contractual agreement (increasing heads of contract) on running DTT broadcasting infrastructure between TBC and BVI – and he enabled BVI to gain profits.
In the fifth charge, it is alleged that, between June 16 and Nov 16, 2008 in Dubai, Mr Mhando occasioned a loss of Sh887 million to TBC. He denied all the charges.
On August 27, 2018 the court found Tido Mhando had a case to answer after Magistrate Shaidi revisited evidence presented by five witnesses of the prosecution.
In his defence, Tido alleged in court that the entire process of entering into joint venture on shifting TBC from analogue to digital systems was done by the TBC Board.