Former Abacus Parental employees’ sh2.2 billion case delayed

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The Nakasero-based Anti-Corruption Court has deferred the trial of former employees of Abacus Parental Drugs in a sh2.2 billion embezzlement case.

On May 18, 2026, Justice Jane Okuo Kajuga postponed the hearing of the case involving Arthur Buyemba, the former accounts manager, and Rogers Muwonge, the human resource manager, who are facing charges of embezzlement.

Buyemba and Muwonge are charged alongside two other individuals, Hope Kabajungu and Marion Nakiriza, who face money laundering charges.

The court adjourned the case after a court assessor reportedly fell sick. Justice Kajuga said the trial could not proceed in the absence of the assessor.

A court assessor is a person who assists a judge during a trial by giving an independent opinion on the evidence presented in court. Assessors are usually not lawyers, but they are chosen because of their experience, integrity, or understanding of community matters.

She adjourned the case to June 24 and July 2026 for further hearing.

Prosecution’s case

The prosecution, led by Stanley Baine from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), alleges that Buyemba, Muwonge and others, still at large, stole sh2.2 billion on November 26, 2018, at Abacus Parental Drugs Limited in Mbalala village, Mukono district, while employed as accounts manager and human resource manager, respectively.

The prosecution further alleges that between February 2016 and December 26, 2017, Kabajungu, at Stanbic Bank, Forest Mall, Lugogo in Kampala district, assisted Buyemba, her husband, and another accused person, Muwonge, to benefit from sh1.1 billion that was purportedly obtained through criminal activity when she received the money through an account at Stanbic Bank.

According to the charge sheet, it is further alleged that Kabajungu, on April 1, 2018, at Stanbic Bank in Mukono district, helped Muwonge benefit from proceeds of crime amounting to sh804 million through her account.

In addition, the prosecution alleges that Nakiriza, in January 2017, at the Stanbic Bank Mukono branch, assisted Muwonge to access sh250 million through her account, despite allegedly knowing that the money had been fraudulently obtained.

Regarding the charge of conspiracy, the prosecution alleges that Buyemba and Muwonge conspired with others still at large at the offices of Abacus Parental Drugs Limited in Mbalala village, Nama subcounty in Mukono district, to defraud their employer through fictitious supply arrangements.

All the accused denied the charges and are out on bail.