Pension Scam: Court to make ruling today

(L-R) Jimmy Lwamafa, Kiwanuka Kunsa and Christopher Obey pictured after a recent court appearance. Photo by Nicholas Oneal

The Anti-Corruption Court will today give its verdict in the sh88.2b social security fund fraud case brought against three former employees of the Ministry of Public Service.

Jimmy Lwamafa, the permanent secretary, Christopher Obey, principal accountant and Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa, director research and development, were on August 19, 2015, arraigned before court and charged with several counts in relation to the irregular budgeting  of National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and  misappropriation of sh88b allocated to it.

According to the State, they budgeted for NSSF, an item the ministry does not budget for and when the money was remitted, they diverted it to an unknown third party.

This came four months after the collapse of the sh165b pension scam case. The case was dismissed for lack of prosecution evidence after it had stalled for one a half years without any witness being produced in court.

The case had been brought against the trio together with the former senior accounts assistant David Japins Oloka, information systems analyst Francis Lubega, accounts assistant Steven Lwanga, Peter Ssajjabi, the secretary East African Community Beneficiaries Association, Ishaka Sentongo, assistant manager operations Cairo Bank, Rahmah Nakigozi Mugeere the Cairo Bank compliance officer, Cairo Bank and its managing director, Tareq Mohammed.

The charges against them were embezzlement, neglect of duty, theft and conspiracy to defraud the government of sh165b.

When the case collapsed, the DPP, Mike Chibita sanctioned eight new charges of embezzlement, causing a financial loss, conspiracy to defraud and false accounting against the trio. Upon the commencement of the hearing, the charge sheet was amended and two more counts of diversion of public resources were added.

According to the charge sheet, the embezzlement, fraud, conspiracy, false accounting and diversion took place in two financial years, 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.

Lwamafa, Kunsa and Obey converted and disposed of the funds in two instalments of sh44.1b for purposes which were unrelated to that for which the resources were budgeted for.

When they appeared before the court's Chief Magistrate, Sarah Langa Siu, for plea taking, they denied the charges and applied for bail, which was unsuccessful.

Siu instead committed them to the High Court for trial before Justice Lawrence Gidudu.

The state was represented by Marion Acio and Barbra Kauma while the trio was represented by lawyers, Nsubuga Mubiru, Ochieng Evans, John Isabirye, Nathan Osinde, Godfrey Ahimbaza and Fred Ssentomero.

As the hearing proceeded, the trio made three futile attempts at getting bail.  On all occasions, Gidudu declined on grounds that when they got bail in the sh165b, the case collapsed and therefore, he could not risk letting them loose.

 Gidudu also argued that the case was proceeding smoothly and the state had made total disclosure of its case, making it easy for them to jump bail and go into exile since they know the evidence against them.

The trial took 15 months with the trio jailed in Luzira. During the trial, their properties were also attached by court following an application by the DPP.

In the same period, Japians who was part of the sh165b, entered a plea bargain with the DPP and refunded sh362.7m which he stole in January 2009. The money was meant for payment of foreign pensioners. When he appeared before court, he added a top up of sh28.2m and court set him free.

As the hearing of the sh88b case came to a close, the trio was again charged with the embezzlement of sh15b which was fraudulently paid to a defunct law firm, Hall & Partners, owned by city lawyer Bob Kasango.

They were charged together with Kasango and a court clerk Milton Mutegeya. The hearing of the case is currently ongoing before Justice Margaret Tibulya.

On September 30, 2016, court assessors in their verdict found the trio not guilty of misappropriating the sh88.2b and asked court to acquit them.

They argued that the State did not adduce any incriminating evidence against the trio in any of the 10 counts brought against them.