UGANDA: Mutebile, Makubuya, Bbumba face charges

 ANDREW BAGALA

Kampala

Police have asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to sanction charges against Central Bank Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile over the Hassan Basajjabalaba compensation scandal. The police also want the DPP to prefer charges against the businessman, who received at least Shs142.6 billion in the contested transaction.

The DPP has also been asked to sanction charges of causing financial loss against former Finance minister Syda Bbumba and former Attorney General Prof. Khiddu Makubuya for their alleged role in approving the compensation.

Ms Grace Akullo, the director of Criminal Investigations and Intelligence, confirmed that they had re-submitted the files to the DPP for the fourth time. “It is true we have sent the files back to the DPP after we worked on the issues that the Director of Public Prosecutions had advised us to do,” Ms Akullo said.

Mr Basajjabalaba is under investigation in connection with a forged consent judgement that exempted his Haba Group of Companies from paying taxes on the Shs142b compensation claim. Ms Jane Kajuga, the spokesperson for the DPP’s office, should not confirm the status of the files when contacted by the Daily Monitor.

If the DPP sanctions the charges, the four officials would then be formally charged in court. 

Ms Bbumba and Prof. Makubuya resigned from Cabinet over the matter while it was under investigation by Parliament. The House exonerated Mr Mutebile, who had come under pressure from MPs to step down.

If the DPP sanctions the charges, it is likely to spark fresh calls for the Governor to reassess his position at the Central Bank.

Any charges are also likely to bring into the spotlight the constitutional guarantees of independence that the Central Bank enjoys and whether such a legal shield could shelter abuse in the institution, if proven.

The police investigation into the matter have been on since last year and detectives have thrice submitted the files to the DPP without getting approval to charge the officials.

An audit by the Office of the Auditor General found that the claims were without legal basis and massively inflated. The audit also found that government did not owe the businessman; instead it was the Mr Basajja’s companies that owed government more than Shs900 million in connection with the transactions.

Source: Daily Monitor (29/11/2012): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Mutebile--Makubuya--Bbumba-face-charges/-/688334/1632366/-/pcxw2jz/-/index.html