Former director of Arusha Municipal Council, Raphael Mbunda and two other public officials were yesterday dragged before the Resident Magistrate’s Court for abuse of office and unlawfully giving tenders to a private firm.

The others are ex-acting municipal accountant, Christopher Mbalakai, ex-municipal lawyer, Paul Mugasha, and Nestoli Ng’oboko, director of Luneco Investment Company Limited (LICL), which was awarded a tender to rehabilitate a parking yard and a municipal garden in Kijenge area.

Before Resident Magistrate Gantwa Mwanguga, lawyer of the Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Hangi Chang’a said that between 2008 and 2010 on different dates, the accused awarded a tender to the private firm LICL to renovate the municipal parking yard and garden without publicly announcing the tender as required by the law.

He told the court that the ex-municipal officials secretly collaborated to awarding the tender to the said firm, worth Sh45.7m.

Chang’a said that worse enough, the accused failed to efficiently supervise the work, making the firm perform below standard, in which case the government incurred a loss of Sh25.5m.