The accused will therefore embark on their defence testimony from May 6 with Mgawe fielding eight witnesses, while Koshuma will give only his testimony.
Principal Resident Magistrate Cyprian Mkeha said the prosecution, through defence testimonies, has delivered a prima facie case against the defendants, hence the ruling that they have a case to answer.
The prosecution, led by Senior State Attorney Pius Hila, closed its case last month after calling five witnesses to demonstrate that the charges against the accused can stand in court.
The charges relate to contracts on expansion of the Dar es Salaam Port, in particular construction of berths number 13 and 14 tasked to the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCCL), billed at about $523m (over Sh800bn at the time the contract was concluded).
According to the charge sheet, the accused committed an offence on December 5, 2011 at the Tanzania Ports Authority, within the city of Dar es Salaam.
On the material day, the accused being employed by the TPA as Director General and Deputy Director General, Mgawe and Koshuma, respectively, abused their positions while discharging their respective functions.
It said that they signed a commercial contract between the TPA and the CCCCL for the construction of berths number 13 and 14 at the Dar es Salaam Port without invitation of tenders.
That was in violation of provisions of Section 31 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 21 of 2004 and was intended to obtain undue advantage for the Chinese construction company.
In another development, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday failed to give a ruling in the case facing former Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Harry Kitilya and two others, as the magistrate was yet to complete writing the ruling.
They are charged with eight counts including money laundering of over Sh12bn payments which they asked the court to strike off.
Adjourning the session, Resident Magistrate Emilius Mchauru said he was yet to finish writing the ruling, asking for the prosecution and defence to bear with him for taking their time.
The ruling was postponed until April 27, after defence advocates, led by advocate Richard Mgongolwa had last week asked the court to reject the money laundering charge, on grounds that it was fatally defective.
“A money laundering offence must contain four elements, like illicit source, placement, layering and integration” with normal flows of money, the advocate insisted.
That observation came after the court refused to grant bail to the accused persons, including forgery, uttering false documents and obtaining six million US dollars (about 12bn/-) by false pretences.
The magistrate said that the offence of money laundering was not bailable under the law. “Under such circumstances, this court may have no power to entertain an application for bail,” he said.
Other accused persons comprise former Miss Tanzania and head of investment banking at Stanbic Bank, Shose Sinare and Sioi Graham Solomon, the former chief legal counsel to the bank.
The accused persons allegedly engaged themselves directly in a transaction involving six million US dollars by transferring, withdrawing and depositing money relating to that transaction in different bank accounts maintained by EGMA Limited at Stanbic Bank (T) Ltd and KCB Bank Ltd
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