A Palestinian national charged with conspiracy to defraud Absa Bank resulting in a financial loss of $267,500, equivalent to shillings 1 billion, has been freed on bail.

On February 29, 2024, Principal Grade One Magistrate Christopher Opit at the Nakasero-based Anti-Corruption Court, released Daniel Mariam Tarazi, 43, after he presented two sureties that the court found to be substantial

Tarazi was granted cash bail of shillings 15 million, and his sureties, Dr Kassim Aboud, a consultant surgeon with the Ministry of Defence, and Richard Mugaba, an employee of GodRich Limited, were ordered to execute a non-cash bond of shillings 150 million.

Sam Bitangaro, the lawyer representing Tarazi, assured the court that his client would not abscond during the trial if granted bail.

Tarazi, a resident of Muyenga in Makindye Division, Kampala, is facing the charge alongside businessmen Salim Kisekka, also known as Salim Hassan Kisekka, and Sudanese businessman Muhamad Abdelbagi.

Abdelbagi was charged on February 27, 2024, and was granted cash bail of shillings 15 million bail on February 28, 2024, after presenting sureties deemed substantial by the court.

Kisekka has not yet been charged, and the court has another criminal summons for him to appear and answer the charges on March 20, 2024.

The prosecution alleges that the trio, along with others still at large, conspired to defraud the bank of shillings 1 billion.

Kisekka is facing a separate charge of causing a financial loss of $245,000 (about shillings 947million) under section 20(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act of 2009 as amended.

The charge of conspiracy to defraud, as stipulated under Section 309 of the Penal Code Act, carries a jail term of three years upon conviction.

In addition, under Section (20) (1) of the Anti-Corruption Court Act, a person convicted of causing financial loss could face a fine not exceeding shillings 4.8 million or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 14 years, or both.

According to the prosecution, between March 11 and 12, 2022, at the Masaka branch of Absa Bank Uganda Limited, Tarazi, Kisekka, Abdelbagi, and others conspired to fraudulently transfer funds from an account belonging to Abraham Yohannes.

The prosecution led by Raymond Mugisa alleges that Kisekka and others at large fraudulently transferred funds from Absa Bank Uganda Limited in the Makasa branch, amounting to $245,000 (shillings 947million).

It is alleged that Kisekka transferred funds from Absa account number 6005103183 in the name of Yohannes to account number 6004854231 in the name of Salim Kisekka by falsely representing that the transfer was made by the account holder as payment for the purchase of land and shares in Bukomansimbi Community Radio Limited, with intent to cause financial loss to the bank.