Uganda's most wanted suspects
Jun 06, 2009
THE POLICE have released a list of the 21 most wanted suspects who are on the run. Prominent on the list are former labour minister Zoe Bakoko Bakoru and former UPDF chief paymaster, Cpt. Dan Byakutaaga, who are thought to be hiding in the US and Zambia r
By Chris Kiwawulo
THE POLICE have released a list of the 21 most wanted suspects who are on the run. Prominent on the list are former labour minister Zoe Bakoko Bakoru and former UPDF chief paymaster, Cpt. Dan Byakutaaga, who are thought to be hiding in the US and Zambia respectively.
The majority of cases involve theft of millions of shillings through trickery and impersonation, several of whom involve women. They are being handled by the Police anti-fraud squad. Their victims include foreigners, NGOs, the army, banks, hospitals and Catholic missions.
Bakoko, a nurse by profession, fled to the US after she learnt that the court wanted her to answer charges of abuse of office and causing financial loss.
As a minister from 2001 to 2005, she is said to have approved a joint venture, Nsimbe Estates, in which the National Social Security Fund lost sh8b in members’ savings.
Byakutaaga, on the other hand, went missing in May 2000 after over $1m (then about sh1.6b) meant to pay UPDF soldiers’ salaries disappeared.
Now in his late 40s, Byakutaaga was appointed as the finance officer for ‘Operation Safe Heaven’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo on January 21, 1999.
Byakutaaga had previously worked in various units of the army as a finance officer in departments like the Luweero industries, the air force school, the school of infantry, Jinja and the pay unit at the general headquarters.
He is a trained officer who did his cadet officer training in Nigeria in 1987 and the company commander’s course in Tanzania in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from India.
As finance officer for ‘Operation Safe Heaven’, he was responsible for the payment of emoluments, salaries and other entitlements, including ration cash allowance, to all the officers in the units under the operation.
On the list is also an unidentified woman who posed as Proscovia Musisi and sold the latter’s land worth sh230m to an American citizen, according to the file at the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID).
Another suspect, Abbey Mugimu, is said to have run away with sh83m he got from the late Justice Arthur Oder between 2000 and 2002.
Oder, who passed away in 2006, reportedly paid the money to Mugimu for a house on Binayomba Rise in Bugolobi. The house belonged to Mugimu’s wife, Linda Mugimu Nkuba.
But when Nkuba returned from abroad, she said she had not received a single coin. Mugimu fled after Oder’s wife, Alice, filed a case at the CID headquarters. His whereabouts are unknown.
The Police are also looking for a man only identified as Ojara for the murder of a young boy in Soroti. After committing the crime, the Police suspect that he took refuge in Southern Sudan.
Banks and financial institutions seem to fall prey the most to con-men. An Asian national, Gopal Das Shah, is in hiding over a sh20m loan he obtained from Capital Finance Cooperation and did not repay.
The Police are also hunting for Felix Mukwaya and Moses Kayima for allegedly stealing over sh100m from Stanbic Bank, Nakivubo branch, on June 23 and 25, 2008.
The two purported to be Brothers of St. Charles Lwanga Vocational School in Kasaala, Luwero district. The money was meant for educating orphans under the Luweero Catholic diocese, sponsored by Caritas Finland.
Mulago Hospital’s department of infrastructure development lost sh154m on October 3, 2007 when Francis Manji and Jandu Musoke forged the hospital’s Electronic Fund Transfer. Musoke is also known as Moses Kasumba or Fred Mafabi.
The two transferred the money onto different accounts in the then Nile Bank, Barclays itself and DFCU bank. The accounts were frozen after they had withdrawn sh30m on two different occasions. They withdrew sh14m from Nile bank and sh16m from Barclays.
The Police are also looking for John Musinguzi, Josephat Masaba and David Muwonge, said to be directors of Hurry Finch Investments, a fictitious company, for acquiring a sh200m loan from Orient Bank.
The former finance administrator of Living Earth Foundation Uganda, Julie Mutabazi, disappeared after she stole sh106m from her employers in 2007, said the Police who suspect that she could be hiding in her home village in Mbarara.
The Ministry of Water and Environment in Luzira, a city suburb, also lost sh100m last year to John Adiga, a security guard who was working with Life and Property Security Guards. Adiga has still gone missing.
But ordinary citizens and local companies, too, are being duped by fraudsters. Geoffrey Tusiime and others are on the run after allegedly obtaining stationery worth almost sh13m from Winnie Lutaaya of Joawan and Sons.
They acquired the stationery through Pentagon Procurement, Consultancy and Commission Agents and issued a cheque that bounced.
Also wanted is Musa Musoke, a truck driver, who took off with sh4.6m belonging to Hardware World in Ntinda on January 7, 2009. The case was reported at Kiira Road Police station, according to CID records.
Stanley Nyakahuma is sought for diverting sh8.8m his client reportedly gave him to register two motor vehicles at the Uganda Revenue Authority offices.
Detectives are also hunting for Duncan Miti over issuing a false cheque of sh9.5m. Miti was charged at Buganda Road court in 2007 but he jumped bail and went into hiding.
Rhoda Naggayi took off after obtaining sh25m from Naate Masanganzira on July 15, 2007 by false pretence, according to the Police.
Naggayi, the Police noted, convinced Masanganzira to give her the money on the pretext that she would sell him a coffee grader, elevator, doors and an electric panel, all properties of Igombe coffee factory.
The Police suspect that the majority of the suspects fled the country. The country’s porous borders, and the anarchy in neighbouring states like Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, make it easy for criminals to disappear.
In addition, the lack of proper identification cards and a comprehensive national registry, indicating people’s physical addresses, allows thugs to relocate and change names, enabling them to remain undetected.
“We appeal to members of the public to cooperate with us in the search for these suspects. Any person who may be having information that can lead to their arrest and prosecution can bring it to us in confidence,†said Police spokesperson Samson Lubega.
On suspects who are out of the country, Lubega said, they are also working with International Police (Interpol) to have them apprehended.
THE POLICE have released a list of the 21 most wanted suspects who are on the run. Prominent on the list are former labour minister Zoe Bakoko Bakoru and former UPDF chief paymaster, Cpt. Dan Byakutaaga, who are thought to be hiding in the US and Zambia respectively.
The majority of cases involve theft of millions of shillings through trickery and impersonation, several of whom involve women. They are being handled by the Police anti-fraud squad. Their victims include foreigners, NGOs, the army, banks, hospitals and Catholic missions.
Bakoko, a nurse by profession, fled to the US after she learnt that the court wanted her to answer charges of abuse of office and causing financial loss.
As a minister from 2001 to 2005, she is said to have approved a joint venture, Nsimbe Estates, in which the National Social Security Fund lost sh8b in members’ savings.
Byakutaaga, on the other hand, went missing in May 2000 after over $1m (then about sh1.6b) meant to pay UPDF soldiers’ salaries disappeared.
Now in his late 40s, Byakutaaga was appointed as the finance officer for ‘Operation Safe Heaven’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo on January 21, 1999.
Byakutaaga had previously worked in various units of the army as a finance officer in departments like the Luweero industries, the air force school, the school of infantry, Jinja and the pay unit at the general headquarters.
He is a trained officer who did his cadet officer training in Nigeria in 1987 and the company commander’s course in Tanzania in 1998. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from India.
As finance officer for ‘Operation Safe Heaven’, he was responsible for the payment of emoluments, salaries and other entitlements, including ration cash allowance, to all the officers in the units under the operation.
On the list is also an unidentified woman who posed as Proscovia Musisi and sold the latter’s land worth sh230m to an American citizen, according to the file at the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID).
Another suspect, Abbey Mugimu, is said to have run away with sh83m he got from the late Justice Arthur Oder between 2000 and 2002.
Oder, who passed away in 2006, reportedly paid the money to Mugimu for a house on Binayomba Rise in Bugolobi. The house belonged to Mugimu’s wife, Linda Mugimu Nkuba.
But when Nkuba returned from abroad, she said she had not received a single coin. Mugimu fled after Oder’s wife, Alice, filed a case at the CID headquarters. His whereabouts are unknown.
The Police are also looking for a man only identified as Ojara for the murder of a young boy in Soroti. After committing the crime, the Police suspect that he took refuge in Southern Sudan.
Banks and financial institutions seem to fall prey the most to con-men. An Asian national, Gopal Das Shah, is in hiding over a sh20m loan he obtained from Capital Finance Cooperation and did not repay.
The Police are also hunting for Felix Mukwaya and Moses Kayima for allegedly stealing over sh100m from Stanbic Bank, Nakivubo branch, on June 23 and 25, 2008.
The two purported to be Brothers of St. Charles Lwanga Vocational School in Kasaala, Luwero district. The money was meant for educating orphans under the Luweero Catholic diocese, sponsored by Caritas Finland.
Mulago Hospital’s department of infrastructure development lost sh154m on October 3, 2007 when Francis Manji and Jandu Musoke forged the hospital’s Electronic Fund Transfer. Musoke is also known as Moses Kasumba or Fred Mafabi.
The two transferred the money onto different accounts in the then Nile Bank, Barclays itself and DFCU bank. The accounts were frozen after they had withdrawn sh30m on two different occasions. They withdrew sh14m from Nile bank and sh16m from Barclays.
The Police are also looking for John Musinguzi, Josephat Masaba and David Muwonge, said to be directors of Hurry Finch Investments, a fictitious company, for acquiring a sh200m loan from Orient Bank.
The former finance administrator of Living Earth Foundation Uganda, Julie Mutabazi, disappeared after she stole sh106m from her employers in 2007, said the Police who suspect that she could be hiding in her home village in Mbarara.
The Ministry of Water and Environment in Luzira, a city suburb, also lost sh100m last year to John Adiga, a security guard who was working with Life and Property Security Guards. Adiga has still gone missing.
But ordinary citizens and local companies, too, are being duped by fraudsters. Geoffrey Tusiime and others are on the run after allegedly obtaining stationery worth almost sh13m from Winnie Lutaaya of Joawan and Sons.
They acquired the stationery through Pentagon Procurement, Consultancy and Commission Agents and issued a cheque that bounced.
Also wanted is Musa Musoke, a truck driver, who took off with sh4.6m belonging to Hardware World in Ntinda on January 7, 2009. The case was reported at Kiira Road Police station, according to CID records.
Stanley Nyakahuma is sought for diverting sh8.8m his client reportedly gave him to register two motor vehicles at the Uganda Revenue Authority offices.
Detectives are also hunting for Duncan Miti over issuing a false cheque of sh9.5m. Miti was charged at Buganda Road court in 2007 but he jumped bail and went into hiding.
Rhoda Naggayi took off after obtaining sh25m from Naate Masanganzira on July 15, 2007 by false pretence, according to the Police.
Naggayi, the Police noted, convinced Masanganzira to give her the money on the pretext that she would sell him a coffee grader, elevator, doors and an electric panel, all properties of Igombe coffee factory.
The Police suspect that the majority of the suspects fled the country. The country’s porous borders, and the anarchy in neighbouring states like Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, make it easy for criminals to disappear.
In addition, the lack of proper identification cards and a comprehensive national registry, indicating people’s physical addresses, allows thugs to relocate and change names, enabling them to remain undetected.
“We appeal to members of the public to cooperate with us in the search for these suspects. Any person who may be having information that can lead to their arrest and prosecution can bring it to us in confidence,†said Police spokesperson Samson Lubega.
On suspects who are out of the country, Lubega said, they are also working with International Police (Interpol) to have them apprehended.