Cheeye fails to raise bail cash
Jul 26, 2009
TEDDY Seezi Cheeye, who was convicted for embezzling Global Fund money and forgery, is still in Luzira Prison after failing to raise the sh60m for his bail.
By Anne Mugisa
TEDDY Seezi Cheeye, who was convicted for embezzling Global Fund money and forgery, is still in Luzira Prison after failing to raise the sh60m for his bail.
Cheeye was returned to Prison on Friday, the day he was granted bail by the Court of Appeal, pending hearing of his appeal against conviction for embezzlement.
Sources at the court said the former director of economic monitoring in the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) waited until evening as relatives tried to raise the money in vain.
In addition to the sh60m, Cheeye was supposed to deposit his passport with the registrar of the court and thereafter report to the office once every two weeks starting August 3.
Cheeye, who is challenging his conviction, maintains that he did not personally steal the money, though his NGO could not account for it.
He also said the court unfairly relied on uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice, Jeffrey Nkurunziza Banga, one of the company managers.
Cheeye was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay back sh110m out of the sh120m he embezzled.
Justice John Katutsi also sentenced him to three years in prison for each of the six counts of forgery, making a total of 28 years. But he was ordered to serve the sentences concurrently, reducing his prison term to 10 years.
When he was granted bail on Friday, Cheeye was in high spirits as he was led to the court cells by prison warders to wait for the family to get the bail money and process his release.
Two of his sureties, Allison Kantarama Emirembe and Edward Wayeneza, were ordered to execute a bond of sh50m each, not cash.
Cheeye, smartly dressed in a blue suit, looked a little trimmer than his usual self, but he told journalists that he had been treated well in prison. He also praised the government for improving the conditions in prison.
TEDDY Seezi Cheeye, who was convicted for embezzling Global Fund money and forgery, is still in Luzira Prison after failing to raise the sh60m for his bail.
Cheeye was returned to Prison on Friday, the day he was granted bail by the Court of Appeal, pending hearing of his appeal against conviction for embezzlement.
Sources at the court said the former director of economic monitoring in the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) waited until evening as relatives tried to raise the money in vain.
In addition to the sh60m, Cheeye was supposed to deposit his passport with the registrar of the court and thereafter report to the office once every two weeks starting August 3.
Cheeye, who is challenging his conviction, maintains that he did not personally steal the money, though his NGO could not account for it.
He also said the court unfairly relied on uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice, Jeffrey Nkurunziza Banga, one of the company managers.
Cheeye was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay back sh110m out of the sh120m he embezzled.
Justice John Katutsi also sentenced him to three years in prison for each of the six counts of forgery, making a total of 28 years. But he was ordered to serve the sentences concurrently, reducing his prison term to 10 years.
When he was granted bail on Friday, Cheeye was in high spirits as he was led to the court cells by prison warders to wait for the family to get the bail money and process his release.
Two of his sureties, Allison Kantarama Emirembe and Edward Wayeneza, were ordered to execute a bond of sh50m each, not cash.
Cheeye, smartly dressed in a blue suit, looked a little trimmer than his usual self, but he told journalists that he had been treated well in prison. He also praised the government for improving the conditions in prison.