Former Public Service officials face fresh charges

By Betty Amamukirori

THE Director of Public Prosecutions, Mike Chibita has instated fresh charges against three former top employees of the Ministry of Public Service employees in a bid to recover sh88bn pension cash.

The former permanent Secretary, Jimmy Lwamafa, Principal Accountant Christopher Obey and director of research and development, Stephen Kunsa Kiwanuka are to face joint counts of abuse of office, embezzlement, false accounting and conspiracy to defraud government of the said money.

On Thursday, the Anti-Corruption Court chief magistrate Sarah Langa issued summons against Lwamafa and his co-accused, to appear in court on August 19, to take plea for the four charges preferred against them.

The DPP purports that in the financial year 2010/2011, the trio fraudulently stole sh44b and the remaining sh44b was stolen in the financial year 2011/2012 under the pretext of making payment of public servants to NSSF.

Chibita has vowed to adduce more than 100 witnesses in court to prove that the trio conspired to create ghost pensioner’s lists in order to defraud government of its money.

It should be remembered that Langa last year dismissed the charges against them after DPP failed to produce witnesses in court to testify against them for a period of one and half years.