Kazinda gets another 5 year jail term  

Former Principle Accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister; Geoffrey. Photo/File

The former Principle Accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister; Geoffrey Kazinda has for the second time, been handed a 5-year jail-sentence for defrauding government sh316m.

Yesterday, the Anti-Corruption court handed the sentence to Kazinda after he was found guilty of embezzling sh316m worth fuel drawn by non-existent OPM vehicles that were meant to carry relief to disaster victims.

The Anti-corruption court led by Justice Lawrence Gidudu found Kazinda, 46, guilty of the crime together with three others. They are former clerk from the OPM Beatrice Kezabu, 66, Shamim Masembe, 51, and Hussein Katumwa 39.

The Judge ruled that Kazinda's co-convicts jumped on the theft bandwagon after their master planner Kazinda had crafted the plot.

"I therefore find that the role Kazinda played in pulling the trigger makes him the master planner who must take the brunt of the punishment. Kazinda caused the rest to come on board after the money had been stolen from the system and deposited on the account of New Caltex Ntinda Service Station," Gidudu noted.

He observed that the theft was completed when the money was transferred electronically from Bank of Uganda without the authority of the accounting officer on financial discipline and hit the accounts of Masembe in DFCU bank.