URA Staff Vanish Over 300m/- Loss

BY Yunusu Abbey TWO Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officials wanted for allegedly causing a sh338m loss to the state-owned tax collecting body, are on the run.Judith Kabajulizi and Allan Arinaitwe, revenue officers, attached to the Duty Drawback Division, vanished on June 6.They reportedly disappeared soon after their five colleagues, including Martin Feta, the commissioner for large tax payers’ department, were arrested and charged in Kampala. “Judith and Allan have never reported back to office. We even sent detectives to Fort Portal where Judith had gone for burial but she was not there,” a senior investigator said.“We were told Allan left office that day (June 6), saying he was going to watch a World Cup match (Senegal vs Denmark). But when he learnt about the arrests, he never returned to office. He has since vanished and his whereabouts are still unknown,” said the source.On June 6, Feta, 54, and four others, were arrested in Kampala and charged the following day with causing a sh338,552,640 loss to URA.A March 4 audit report said the loss could have been more than sh2.5b. The New Vision broke the news in a June 7 spotlight story.The four suspects were Sam Manana, an assistant commissioner audit I, Felix Odongkara, assistant commissioner audit II, Katongole Kiiza, the in-charge business analysis and Paul Tumuhairwe, the principal revenue officer in-charge of audit I Duty Drawback. They are still on remand.On July 10 Principal Judge Herbert Ntabgoba granted Feta a sh500,000 cash bail on grounds that he was of advanced age.The five URA officials were accused of allegedly sanctioning fraudulent payments (Duty Draw back refund) to fictitious companies which had not exported any goods out of the country.Under the duty drawback policy, duties paid on inputs for production of exports are refunded to make them competitive.For instance, if one imported sugar for production of biscuits, he/she applies for a tax refund from Uganda Revenue Authority.Ends