CID, URA chiefs irk Ssebutinde
Jan 16, 2003
TEMPERS flared as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) bosses were grilled by the Justice Ssebutinde probe into corruption in the tax body yesterday.
By Alfred Wasike
TEMPERS flared as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) bosses were grilled by the Justice Ssebutinde probe into corruption in the tax body yesterday.
The CID and URA chiefs were grilled for allegedly bungling investigations and failing to recover more than sh200m in tax evasion from a Kampala trader.
“Next time you connive to lie under oath, do it carefully. Today I am going to have you for lunch and supper,†a very angry Ssebutinde raised her voice as she wagged her fingers wildly at dumbfounded URA’s Annebrit Aslund, CID’s Elizabeth Kutesa, the deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, the CID National Fraud Squad OC, William Kototyo and another detective, Maurice Kalema.
“You failed to tie up the loose ends. I warn all of you. Someone obviously has influenced you people to come up with this concoction. It is too embarrassing for the CID and URA top leadership. It is beyond words. Your stories don’t make sense. We have had the unpleasant task of sitting here to listen to your lies,†Ssebutinde said.
The joint URA/CID investigations into the alleged tax fraud involved a company called Shamed & Co Ltd whose director identified as Amina Hershi Moshe, a Somali, reportedly imported into the country more than 5,000 tonnes of sugar that later vanished into the market from the URA Uganda Railways Goodshed. Some URA officials were charged while Moshe was briefly held and released.
Trouble started when Kutesa told the probe that on May 8, 2002, she wrote a letter and sent a file detailing the case to Aslund.
Aslund shot back saying all she received from the CID was a brief letter and “a few papers attached to it and not a file like she says.†Aslund said she passed the papers to one of her deputies (Justin Zaake) since she had not followed the case. However, Kutesa who failed to prove that she had sent the file to Aslund, simply insisted that she had dispatched it.
TEMPERS flared as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) bosses were grilled by the Justice Ssebutinde probe into corruption in the tax body yesterday.
The CID and URA chiefs were grilled for allegedly bungling investigations and failing to recover more than sh200m in tax evasion from a Kampala trader.
“Next time you connive to lie under oath, do it carefully. Today I am going to have you for lunch and supper,†a very angry Ssebutinde raised her voice as she wagged her fingers wildly at dumbfounded URA’s Annebrit Aslund, CID’s Elizabeth Kutesa, the deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, the CID National Fraud Squad OC, William Kototyo and another detective, Maurice Kalema.
“You failed to tie up the loose ends. I warn all of you. Someone obviously has influenced you people to come up with this concoction. It is too embarrassing for the CID and URA top leadership. It is beyond words. Your stories don’t make sense. We have had the unpleasant task of sitting here to listen to your lies,†Ssebutinde said.
The joint URA/CID investigations into the alleged tax fraud involved a company called Shamed & Co Ltd whose director identified as Amina Hershi Moshe, a Somali, reportedly imported into the country more than 5,000 tonnes of sugar that later vanished into the market from the URA Uganda Railways Goodshed. Some URA officials were charged while Moshe was briefly held and released.
Trouble started when Kutesa told the probe that on May 8, 2002, she wrote a letter and sent a file detailing the case to Aslund.
Aslund shot back saying all she received from the CID was a brief letter and “a few papers attached to it and not a file like she says.†Aslund said she passed the papers to one of her deputies (Justin Zaake) since she had not followed the case. However, Kutesa who failed to prove that she had sent the file to Aslund, simply insisted that she had dispatched it.