LDC Finance Officers Interdicted Over Fraud

THE Law Development Centre (LDC) finance chief Julius Magezi, and two other officers have been suspended following an alleged scam in which the centre is feared to have lost millions of shillings in forged receipts, reports John Eremu.The police fraud squad has moved in to investigate the reports which saw administrative secretary Gideon Akangarisa and the accounts assistant, Priscilla Ahimbisibwe, interdicted.The LDC director, Mr. Elijah Wante, confirmed yesterday that the trio had been suspended for “financial irregularities and impropriety.”“We have not yet ascertained the amount lost and the matter is now a subject of police investigation,” Wante said.The head of the fraud squad, Dennis Odongpiny, declined to divulge details, saying it would jeopardise their investigations. Odongpiny, however, confirmed that his officers had interrogated the suspects and were due to interview students.But the scam unearthed by the internal auditors reportedly involved issuing forged receipts and receiving tuition fees in cash, contrary to regulations that the money is paid in the bank. The most affected students are said to be those pursuing diploma courses under the evening programme.LDC offers an undergraduate diploma course in law as well as a postgraduate bar course.Undergraduate students pay sh1.6m for the nine-month course while the bar course students pay sh2m. The students have the option of paying in installments.The guild president, Hussein Kashilingi, appealed to the authorities not to victimise the students as a result of the fraud.“The purported fraud in my view should not affect the status of the students as regards the payment of their fees,” Kashilingi said.Ends