THE Police are investigating a financial scam in which people in Busoga region lost about sh5b to Dutch International, an NGO.
Directors of the organisation that has been operating on Visva Mall on Lubas Road in Jinja town allegedly disappeared recently with their customers’ deposits, weeks after another organisation, TEAM, also based in Jinja, cheated customers of sh3b.
Meeting the affected customers at Main Street Primary School in the town on Sunday, James Ocen from the economic fraud squad at the CID headquarters in Kampala, said two of the directors had been arrested.
Sources said those in Police custody in Kampala are Nixon Balikoowa, the chairman of Dutch International and Mudasiru Mafabi, the eastern regional coordinator. Others, including the organisation’s secretary, Andrew Kaggwa, are still on the run.
“They will be produced before court and we shall strive to recover your money.
Be patient; we are doing everything possible so that you don’t lose your money,” Ocen told the angry residents.
He said when the Police opened the safe at the organisation’s offices, only $136 (about Sh 251,600) was recovered.
The victims have formed a 15-member task force headed by David Isanga, to consult stakeholders for a solution. The taskforce is organising a peaceful demonstration, which will end at Parliament, where they will hand a petition to the Speaker.
Isanga, who said they were compiling a list of the victims and the amounts lost, said it was expected that the highest amount lost by an individual was over sh100m. He said Dutch International, which opened in Jinja about two years ago, had an estimated 4,000 customers.
Another member of the task force, identified as Luzze, said a person was required to pay $75 (sh138,750) as membership fee, while a ‘five-star’ member, which most of them were, would pay sh898,000, from which they were promised to receive sh210,000 monthly.
During the meeting, members strongly criticised area local leaders, saying they had done little to assist them. They also accused the Government of siding with criminals.
“The people who cheated us are always driving in town but instead of arresting them, they have been armed. Our leaders were also part of Team and Dutch,” they said.
