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Chenge, Mataka named in WikileakUS Cables |
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Written by Daily News
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Tuesday, 04 January 2011 |
 THE WikiLeaks has released another cable on Air Tanzania Corporation Limited indicating that in 2007 the US government and the Boeing set limits on their efforts, turning away requests by Tanzania to hire “agents” who charge steep commissions or bribes to gain access to top officials. The cables which have also been published by the New York Times on Sunday said “Typically, these agents ask for some kind of a commission to make introductions to officials running the competition.
Boeing faced such a request in Tanzania in 2007, as it was bidding on a relatively small contract to modernize the Air Tanzania fleet.” It further reveals that it was already concerned, as the bidding began, that AirBus had an inside track.
Boeing officials refused to hire the agent and reported the request to the US State Department and Air Tanzania was shut down by aviation safety authorities about a year after this exchange.
The cables reveals that the US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission D. Purnell Delly specifically noted Air Tanzania Managing Director and CEO, David Mattaka's unusual "suggestion" that the Regional Director of Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Rob Faye should contact a wealthy South Asian hotelier, who subsequently suggested to Faye that he would need his services to open the right doors in government.
“ ‘Agents’ and steep ‘commissions’ have been at the heart of several corruption scandals here,” says a 2007 State Department cable recounting a demand that Boeing hire a mysterious hotel executive in Tanzania to serve as a “go-between” with government officials. Payments like that, the cable said, typically were bribes that “ended up in Swiss bank accounts.”
The cables revealed further that On August 9, Boeing's Faye met with Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Maua Daftari and the Director of Transport and Communications in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Dr Bartholomew Rufunjo and Faye reported his meetings with both Daftari and Rufunjo were promising.
Faye also is quoted to have reported that it was apparent that there had been some communication with the Ministry, presumably from State House, to ensure there would be no "go-betweens" in Air Tanzania's dealings with Boeing. Efforts to reach Mr Mataka for comments proved futile as his phone was not reachable.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 January 2011 )
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