Details of the escrow account have remained shrouded in secrecy with senior government officials either declining to comment or openly dodging questions about why it was opened, who controls it and how much money was deposited.
According to findings by The Guardian, the account was established through a letter from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), dated 8 March 2013 and signed by two senior officials in the central bank's department of foreign payments and settlement, S. Mwakalukwa and M. Kahamba.
An escrow account is a temporary pass-through account held by a third party during the process of a transaction between two parties.
The pipeline and accompanying gas processing plants, all financed by a $1.225 billion Chinese loan, were initially expected to be completed in 2014 but reportedly faced technical glitches.
The actual cost of the project has recently been an issue of controversy with some opposition members of parliament claiming it was inflated by over 100 per cent and at least $600 million was allegedly spent on paying kickbacks to some key government officials.
The state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) is on record as saying the pipeline itself was built at a cost of $875.715 million and the balance from the Chinese loan was used to construct the gas processing plants.
Sources close to the government told The Guardian that the opening of the escrow account at Stanbic Bank was officially approved by the Treasury through BoT just days after the fishy-looking $600m loan deal between the bank and the government was concluded.
It remains something of a mystery why the government opted to open the account with a privately-owned commercial bank and not directly with the central bank, as was the case with the Independent Power Tanzania Limited's (IPTL) Tegeta escrow account.
The Guardian also couldn’t independently verify whether there was any hidden motive behind the opening of the Stanbic escrow account. So far, there is no suggestion of wrongdoing in either bank transaction despite the secrecy involved.
But for the past month or so, The Guardian has tried unsuccessfully to get proper clarification from the Treasury, BoT and TPDC – all of them being key government institutions involved in the Stanbic Bank transactions.
Top officials with these institutions have not been willing to discuss the matter in detail.
When contacted for comment, TPDC managing director Dr James Mataragio acknowledged the existence of the escrow account, but said he could not immediately explain why it was opened or how much money has been deposited in it.
Mataragio last month asked for time for TPDC to work on inquiries from The Guardian about the escrow account.
STANBIC ‘MUM’ ON ESCROW ACCOUNT
Stanbic Bank Tanzania officials have also not responded to The Guardian's requests for comment on whether there are any links between the escrow account, the pipeline project, and the $600m loan disbursed to the government.
The bank is already at the centre of controversial revelations that a $6 million bribe was allegedly paid to senior government officials in connection with work on the same private placement contract deal in 2012 and 2013.
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