UGANDA: Two more arrested in Shs20b OPM scam

By Dear Jeanne

Kampala

Police on Tuesday arrested two more officials from the Ministry of Finance, bringing to six the number of those arrested in connection with the alleged loss of up to Shs20.1 billion in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Mr Charles Muwasa, an accountant in the Accountant General’s Office, and Mr David Mugisha, a senior economist, were taken for questioning after appearing before the Public Accounts Committee.

The director of the Criminal Intelligence Investigations Department, Ms Grace Akullo, confirmed the arrests yesterday. According to the documents confiscated from the Ministry of Finance, the six are alleged to have connived to draw the money from the Treasury and forged documents presented to the Accountant General, to insinuate that the money was still in the Treasury account.

Mr Mugisha and Mr Muwasa are alleged to have approached Mr Wilbert Okello, a principal systems analyst, and asked him for a “favour”, which involved transferring Shs14.8b to a secret account in the Bank of Uganda.

It is also alleged that the systems analyst, disguised the money, giving them a salary code. Three out of the four officials in police custody had earlier been interdicted by the Prime Minister, Mr Amama Mbabazi, following pressure from three donor countries.

The ongoing purge in the Office of the Prime Minister stems from a story run by the Daily Monitor that exposed the rot and a subsequent forensic Audit by the Auditor General after the arrest of Mr Godfrey Kazinda, the principal accountant.

The Attorney General found substantial evidence, indicating that aid from Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark was transferred to unauthorised accounts in a sophisticated scam, which resulted in the theft of at least Shs50 billion.

Source: Daily Monitor (22/11/2012): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Two-more-arrested-in-Shs20b-OPM-scam/-/688334/1626352/-/11scxmp/-/index.html