DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Up to 92 officials of cooperative unions have been arrested over defrauding cashew nuts farmers in southern Tanzania, President John Magufuli said here on Sunday.
In a televised speech at a swearing-in ceremony for newly appointed officials, Magufuli said some 1.2 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 522,000 U.S. dollars) were scammed by officials from 32 agricultural marketing cooperative societies in their trade with cashew nuts farmers in the southern regions of Mtwara and Lindi between 2016 and 2017.
Meanwhile, about 255 million shillings have been recovered from some of the scammers by the country's anti-corruption watchdog.
"The government will make sure that no cashew nut farmer is defrauded by dishonest officials," the president said.
Magufuli ordered an investigation into the case after hearing farmers complain that they had not received payment for their crop since 2016 in a visit to the two regions last week, although the government had released money for the purchase.
