Mbabazi floors British tabloid Daily Mail in libel case

Jul 30, 2013

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has been awarded damages by a British tabloid, The Daily Mail, which published an article that his “cronies” took about sh39b meant for foreign aid.

By Raymond Baguma

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has been awarded damages by a British tabloid, The Daily Mail, which published an article that his “cronies” took about sh39b meant for foreign aid.

While it could not be immediately established how much money the Prime Minister has been paid, the UK Guardian newspaper reports that Associated Newspapers, the publisher of The Daily Mail paid Mbabazi a “substantial sum” in damages plus legal costs.

Julian Darrall, solicitor for Associated Newspapers  this afternoon said that the publishers had undertaken not to repeat the allegations.

The publishers also apologised for the harm caused to Mbabazi’s reputation, and offence caused to him by its articles which have been removed from the newspaper’s website.

Following the Auditor General's report last October; the UK Department for International Development (DFID) said about £11m in aid had been suspended with immediate effect because of “initial evidence” emerging from a forensic audit.

Mbabazi through h, his London based lawyers Carter-Ruck Associates,   dragged the newspaper in the London High Court after it published two articles on October 31 last year in the print and online editions, one of which alleged that aid money was deposited on his private account.

In the printed edition, The Daily Mail published an article titled, “£10m foreign aid went to cronies of Ugandan PM.” While MailOnline’s article read, “Britain and Ireland suspend aid to Uganda after £10m of funding ends up in Prime Minister’s account.”

“While the Auditor General in Uganda had produced a report which had revealed irregularities, fraud and forgery on the part of staff working within the Office of the Prime Minister, there was no suggestion in the report that the Prime Minister was responsible for, or benefitted from, the theft of the money.” Andrew Stephenson, Mbabazi’ solicitor told the court presided over by Justice  Tugendhat.

Find the details and Mbabazi's reaction in Wednesday's The New Vision newspaper.
 
 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});