MP, four CCM members held over graft allegations

The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) on Tuesday night questioned Ilala MP Mussa Azan Zungu and four other CCM members over corruption allegations.Dodoma Regional PCCB commander Eunice Mmari told a press conference yesterday that Mr Zungu, who was one of the candidates vying for the National Executive Committee (NEC)’s post through the parents’ wing, was allegedly bribing members of the wing to influence them to vote for him.

“That was part of our long follow-up on CCM elections, which started in April this year. We have also managed to block various corruption plots,” Ms Mmari said.

The information that The Citizen obtained and was confirmed by impeccable sources here said Mr Zungu was arrested at around 10pm at one of the petrol stations when he tried to bribe voters Sh100,000 each.
After he was arrested, Mr Zungu was sent to the PCCB regional office, where he was interrogated until 2pm, and then he was released on bail by Bukene MP Selemani Zedi.

The sources said after the PCCB arrested him, they also inspected a car he had boarded.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, Mr Zungu refuted the allegations, saying he was at the petrol station.
“In fact, it was not my car but a taxi. Then, I allowed them to inspect me after they were satisfied they left me,” he said.

Ms Mmari said on the same day they also managed to arrest Ms Fatuma Kasenga, one of the members of the party’s wing, who was caught while buying food for some members of the wing to bribe them to vote for one of the candidates in yesterday’s election.  Meanwhile, corruption in the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) elections has continued to haunt top leaders, as Vice President Dr Mohammed Gharib Bilal yesterday cautioned members of the parents’ wing.   
The parents’ wing held its general meeting yesterday in which the chairperson, deputy chairperson and five representatives to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) were elected.As campaigns came to the deadline yesterday, Dr Bilal, who is also a NEC member, warned the parents’ wing members not to vote for a candidate who gave bribes.
“There is no reason at all to elect a leader only because he or she has given you something, and there is no reason for a candidate to believe that he or she may be elected after giving a bribe,” Dr Bilal stressed.
He called on CCM members at the Institute of Rural Development Planning’s Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Hall in Dodoma to avoid tarnishing the image of the party.
He said the person who bribed to be elected a leader had no intention to serve people in a particular area.
“I don’t expect that you candidates will again give your supporters a chance to engage in corruption acts within this hall,” he said.
For her part, Ms Dogo Iddi Mabrouk, who acted as the chairperson of the parents’ wing after its chairperson Athuman Mhina died early this year, said greed for power and money among some of her fellow party members had corrupted them.

Source:http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/26933-mp-four-ccm-members-held-over-graft-allegations.html