Katto Denies Saleh Bribe

By Anne Mugisa And Milton Olupot EMMANUEL Katto, proprietor of Consolidated Sales Corporation (CSC), the company that sold the Government the controversial combat helicopters, has denied offering US$800,000 to Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh. Saleh recently told the commission that Katto promised him a commission of US$200,000 on each of the four helicopters that were to be procured. Katto yesterday told the chopper probe commission chaired by Justice Julia Ssebutinde that he has never offered Saleh any money as an inducement to help him clinch the deal from government. "Is it your testimony that His Excellency and Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh were economical with the truth when they said you did offer a commission to Saleh?" Ssebutinde asked, to which Katto responded in the affirmative. "I didn't discuss it with Major General Salim Saleh My lord. I never told the General of the commission," he said. Katto said he signed an agreement with Kwame Ruyondo for 10 percent of the gross commission and if he had promised Saleh a commission, he would have put it in writing. He said CSC appointed Ruyondo as its agent and gave him commission installments amounting to US$100,000. He said Ruyondo used US$20,000 of that money to buy a vehicle. CSC received US$6.5m from the Government. Ruyondo told the Commission that the commission never materialised. Katto could not explain why Ruyondo was given only US$100,000 and not 10 percent of the money received. He said CSC never received all the US$12m of the contract. He admitted that CSC never filed returns to the Registrar of Companies or paid taxes to Uganda Revenue Authority. He also said he has lost all documents pertaining to CSC. He said his partners, Chris Smith and Max Waterman, have the documents. He said he cannot trace the partners because they fell out, one of them migrated to the US while another left his residence in London. Ssebutinde ordered Katto to produce the CSC certificate of incorporation not later than mid-next week. "In fact, I'm hereby instructing counsel to subpoena you for those documents and you must produce them before mid-next week," Ssebutinde said as Katto pleaded that he lost touch with his partners. Verbatim on Home News Ends