Police hold suspect over ghost pensions

By ERIASA MUKIIBI SSERUNJOGI

KAMPALA

Police yesterday arrested one suspect as part of on-going investigations into how Shs63 billion was paid in pensions to non-existent people. “We got the chairman,” CID Director Grace Akullo confirmed to Daily Monitor moments after Santos Alima, the chairperson of the East African Community Beneficiaries’ Association (EACBA) was arrested.

Ms Akullo led detectives through another day scouring through documents at the Ministry of Public Service, hoping to find more leads to aid the investigation. Detectives also wanted to question the Public Service Permanent Secretary Jimmy Lwamafa but he was away attending a leadership course in Kyankwanzi.

Detectives were still camping at the Public Service ministry by press time but they had indicated that a number of senior officials at the ministry, including Principal Accountant Christopher Obeyi, would record statements.

Between February and October last year, the ministry paid out at least Shs63bn to 1,018 ghost pensioners in a scam that police suspects was the handiwork of the leaders of EACBA, civil servants and probably bank employees.

Daily Monitor broke the story yesterday that 1,000 bank accounts were opened in the same bank at around the same time on the recommendation of the same person, EACBA Secretary General Peter Sajabi.

On these accounts, varying sums of money were deposited ostensibly to settle pension payments but the accounts are believed to have been opened in the names of fictitious people with the aim of stealing pension money. The suspect account names and amounts paid to each of them were published in yesterday’s Daily Monitor.

The police confirmed that Mr. Sajabi is among those wanted to assist police in their investigations but he was yet to attend a police station by press time yesterday. No one has been charged with any offence in connection with the investigation yet. Officials from the bank declined to comment yesterday.

The police have established that some of the 1000 ghost beneficiaries were actually former civil servants whose benefits had been already paid but their names were put back on the claimants’ list for fraudulent purposes. Investigations continue.

Source: Daily Monitor (18/09/2012): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Police+hold+suspect+over+ghost+pensions/-/688334/1510092/-/ifsxjv/-/index.html