DAR ES SALAAM, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's anti-graft watchdog on Thursday suspended nine of its senior officials attached to its estate management unit to pave way for investigation over claims of corruption, embezzlement and theft related to the construction of the body's seven buildings in seven districts.
John Mbungo, the director general of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), said the suspension of the nine officials followed doubts expressed by President John Magufuli shortly before he inaugurated one of PCCB's seven new buildings in Chamwino district in Dodoma region on Wednesday.
President Magufuli expressed doubt over the real cost of the Chamwino PCCB building which cost 148 million Tanzanian shillings (about 64,000 U.S. dollars), saying the building did not meet the value for money that was released by the government.
Mbungo told a news conference in the capital Dodoma that the suspended officials were PCCB's estate management unit's architects, quantity surveyors, engineers, construction managers and building engineers.
He said he had formed a four-member independent team from the Contractors Registration Board, the Tanzania Building Agency and Suma Construction Company Limited, a construction unit under the Tanzania People's Defense Forces, to conduct the investigations in one week beginning July 27.
Mbungo added that he had also disbanded PCCB's estate management unit to pave way for formation of a new unit. Enditem
