DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian police said on Wednesday two top officials of Sky Associates Limited which owns Tanzanite One Mining Ltd have been transferred from Manyara region to the east African nation's commercial capital Dar es Salaam for further investigations.
"They were transferred to Dar es Salaam on Monday for further grilling by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI)," said Francis Massawe, the Manyara regional police commander.
The two officials of Sky Associates Limited have been implicated in the tanzanite mining fraud by two reports on diamonds and tanzanite mining by two by parliamentary investigative committees presented to President John Magufuli last week.
Massawe named the two officials as Faisal Juma Shahbhai and Hussein Gonga.
Massawe further disclosed that they were still pursuing State Mining Corporation (STAMICO), a government owned enterprise also mentioned and implicated in the reports.
The arrest of the officials followed a directive by President Magufuli who had instructed defense and security organs to investigate top officials implicated in the report.
Last week, Tanzanian police chief said they have started investigating senior officials implicated in the two reports by parliamentary investigative committees on diamonds and tanzanite mining.
"After President John Magufuli instructed defence and security organs to immediately start investigating all officers implicated in the reports, we have already arrested some of the officials for interrogation," said the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro.
Magufuli also ordered the suspension of senior officials implicated in the two reports.
"The officials mentioned in the two reports should give way pending the investigations," said Magufuli.
Following the order, the Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Regional Administration and Local Governments, George Simbachawene and Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Edwin Ngonyani, announced they were stepping down to pave way for investigations.
"The two committees have shown weaknesses in overseeing our natural resources. It is high time all Tanzanians became patriotic in protecting our resources," said Magufuli.
On July 5 the National Assembly formed a nine-man investigative team to assess how Tanzania was benefiting from diamond mining.
The investigative team looked at regulation, ownership and diamond mining, said Speaker of the National Assembly Job Ndugai.
He said the team drawing Members of Parliament from the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi and the opposition camp worked for 30 days before submitting its report.
In June, Magufuli suspended issuance of new mining licenses to investors until after the government reorganized itself.
In May this year, he sacked Minister for Energy and Minerals Sospeter Muhongo after a report showed he was implicated in mining firms' undeclared mineral sand exports.
The report revealed that the undeclared mineral sand exports led to tax evasion by the mining firms.
Magufuli said the report revealed that mining firms, including Acacia Mining, cheated over mineral sand exports for smelting abroad, making the east African nation to lose millions of U.S. dollars.
The president also dissolved the Tanzania Mineral Audit Agency (TMAA) Board of Directors and suspended the agency's Chief Executive Officer, Dominic Rwekaza, for what he termed as negligence.
