Court freezes National Water accounts

Aug 31, 2010

THE Magistrate’s Court in Lira on Monday ruled that the National Water and Sewerage Corporation’s (NWSC) bank accounts would remain frozen until the case between the corporation and one of its clients is settled.

By Bill Oketch

THE Magistrate’s Court in Lira on Monday ruled that the National Water and Sewerage Corporation’s (NWSC) bank accounts would remain frozen until the case between the corporation and one of its clients is settled.

The court heard that NWSC awarded a sh16m contract to Ti Komi Investment to dig a water pipeline in Ngetta, Lira district. The contractor completed the work but was not paid.

The contractor hired a lawyer, Louis Odongo, to intervene and later the two parties accepted to settle the matter out of court. At this time, NWSC paid sh16m to its client, but did not pay Odongo legal fees amounting to sh3m.

The case came up in court last week and the NWSC lawyer requested that he should be heard alone in the absence of the accused.

The matter was pushed to yesterday, when the grade I magistrate, Gabriel Nyipir, ordered Stanbic Bank, Lira branch to block the NWSC bank accounts.

The court also ordered that NWSC appears in court today to explain why they failed to pay the money.

Moses Gilpatho, an official at Stanbic Bank, confirmed that the court had requested them to freeze NWSC’s bank accounts.

Gilpatho, however, declined to comment further, saying he was protecting the rights of their clients.

An official from NWSC said they failed to pay the money because the principal signatory to the account was out of the country.

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