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KAMPALA - The political assistant of Karamoja affairs state minister Agnes Nandutu has been arrested over the Karamoja iron sheet scandal.

Evelyn Hilda Bazibu, a resident of Namuseera, Wakiso district, was Thursday arrested and produced before the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala to answer charges of dealing with suspect property and conspiracy to defraud.

However, she was returned to Police for safe custody without taking a plea, after the detectives were advised to present to the court an amended indictment including Bazibu’s name, since the matter is before the High Court.

The detectives had presented to the court registry an amended charge sheet, containing Nandutu and Bazibu’s charges and particulars of the offence, which was rejected.

On April 19, 2023, Nandutu, who is also the Bududa District Woman Member of Parliament, was committed to High Court to stand trial over the Karamoja iron sheets scandal by the Anti-Corruption Court Grade One Magistrate, Esther Asiimwe.

She was the first minister to be committed to the High Court to stand trial over the iron sheets scandal although she is the third minister to be charged and remanded to Luzira Prison over the saga.

Others are Karamoja affairs minister Mary Goretti Kitutu, and the finance state minister for planning, Amos Lugoloobi.

Kitutu is battling two counts of loss of public property and conspiracy to defraud. The offence of loss of public property elicits a 10-year jail term on conviction while conspiracy to defraud attracts three years imprisonment. However, Lugoloobi is facing two counts of dealing with suspect property.

Others charged include Kitutu’s brother, Micheal Naboya Kitutu and her personal assistant, Joshua Abaho. Naboya is accused of receiving stolen property, while Abaho of corruption.

Charges

Nandutu and Bazibu are battling charges of dealing with suspect property, contrary to Section 21A (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act and conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Section 309 of the Penal Code Act.

The offence of dealing with suspect property attracts a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment, upon conviction while conspiracy to defraud elicits a three-year-jail term.

Allegations

Prosecution alleges that Nandutu and Bazibu, between the month of June and July 2022, at the Office of the Prime Minister’s (OPM) stores in Namanve, and in Kkola Cell, Bulwanyi Parish, Mukono district, dealt with government property, namely, 2,000 pre-painted iron sheets of gauge 28 marked: Office of the Prime Minister, by receiving and holding the items, which she had reason to believe were acquired as a result of loss of public property, an offence under Section 10 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2009.

Prosecution also alleges that Nandutu and Bazibu in the same period conspired together by deceit to defraud beneficiaries under the Karamoja Community Empowerment Programme of 2,000 pre-painted iron sheets of gauge 28 marked “Office of the Prime Minister”.