Tanzania’s anti-graft watchdog said on Thursday it had frozen the assets of its chief accountant and planned to charge him with corruption, Reuters reports.
“The Resident Magistrate’s Court of Dar es Salaam region at Kisutu has issued freezing orders against properties of one Godfrey Gugai, who is about to be charged with corruption offences and other related offences,” the PCCB said in a public notice. Reuters was unable to contact Gugai and his ex-colleagues said he was not reachable. It was not immediately clear whether he was already in detention but the PCCB said he would be arraigned at a Dar es Salaam court “over the next few days”, this according to the report.
Gugai’s frozen assets include six vehicles and 40 apartments, houses and prime plots in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam and other major urban centres.
The freezing is part of an aggressive anti-graft drive in which thousands of officials have already lost their jobs.
Since taking office in 2015, President John Magufuli vowed to root out the “cancer” of high-level corruption that has long bedevilled economic growth in the east African nation.
Last month President Magufuli sacked over 9,000 public workers who have been using fake certificates
