THE police and Immigration Department in Dar es Salaam are holding former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stanbic Bank Tanzania, Bashir Awale, for illegal stay in the country and involvement in local politics.
Awale is said to be among campaign team members of former Premier Edward Lowassa who unsuccessfully contested for the Union presidency on CHADEMA ticket with the backing of three other opposition parties under the UKAWA alliance.
Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Suleiman Kova said the suspect, who is believed to be a Kenyan, was arrested on Monday at Mikocheni in the city.
“A search conducted by the police at his residence in Mikocheni found a birth certificate with number D 063711 bearing the name Bashir Abdi Ally and showing that he was born on July 11, 1969 at the Dodoma Government Hospital.
“In the same house, police also found a Kenyan passport with number 000529 bearing the name Bashir Fenal Abdi Ally, which showed that he was born in Nairobi, Kenya on July 11, 1969,” Mr Kova explained.
It is due to the controversy on the documents that the police and the Immigration Department are holding the suspect for interrogation. “The constitution of the land does not allow foreigners to engage in local politics and yet Awale was actively involved in the recent concluded general election,” Mr Kova stated.
He went on to explain that Awale has been in the process of applying for Tanzanian citizenship, which the Immigration Department was yet to approve. On the other hand, other sources have confided to this newspaper that the arrest of the former bank CEO was prompted by police investigations, which showed that he was bankrolling eight communication volunteers from CHADEMA who have appeared in court charged with publishing false presidential results.
“One of the eight suspects was found with hefty internet bundles, which were later traced to have been sent by Awale,” the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the ‘Daily News’.
Awale left Stanbic Bank in July 2013 after seven years as CEO before he was moved to Nairobi to head the bank’s Regional Investment Executive for East Africa in addition to Ethiopia and South Sudan.
Meanwhile, the zonal police chief said the force is holding seven suspects over terrorism-related charges. They were arrested in various parts of the country with eight firearms and 62 rounds of ammunition.
According to him, the suspects are believed to be behind the attacks on police stations and looting of weapons countrywide. It is as well believed that the suspects were out to disrupt the just ended elections.
A police crackdown has so far netted 74 people on terrorism charges in which 51 weapons were seized in addition to 890 rounds of ammunition.
DAILY NEWS
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