Ex-NSSF boss charged over sh8b botched deal
Feb 14, 2014
The former NSSF board chairman, Geoffrey Onegi- Obel, has been charged with abuse of office over sh8b.
By Vision Reporter
The former NSSF board chairman, Geoffrey Onegi- Obel, has been charged with abuse of office over sh8b.
Onegi- Obel was Friday charged before Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Sarah Langa Siu and remanded to Luzira prison. He denied the charges.
After pleading not guilty to charges of abuse of office and causing financial loss, Sydney Asubo, the director of legal affairs from Inspectorate of Government committed Onegi- Obel to face trial in High Court Anti-Corruption division.
Chief magistrate Langa explained that after committal, her court does not have the mandate to grant bail
The magistrate advised Onegi- Obel to exercise his rights and apply for bail in the Anti-Corruption High Court division.
Francis Gimara, Onegi-Obel’s lawyer asked court to re-instate his bail terms of 2010 when he first appeared in court.
Gimara asked court to abide by the precedent set by Sam Kutesa and two others in CHOGM case where bail is not cancelled upon committing an accused to the High Court.
Asubo opposed the application saying Onegi- Obel was being charged afresh though the particulars of the offence are the same and that he should file a file bail application.
Onegi-Obel who is accused of causing loss of money in the botched $225 Nsimbe Housing Estate deal and abuse of office , petitioned the Constitutional Court in 2011 challenging his prosecution by the Inspectorate of Government.
The charges against Onegi-Obel were instituted in 2010. The IGG said he committed the offences between 2004 and 2005.The funds the IGG said were pilfered during transactions in which NSSF, through a company called Premier, entered a joint venture with Mugoya, Estates Ltd a private business company. The venture involved a plan to construct 5000 housing units by Nsimbe Holdings Ltd.