Pakistanis, ISO officer convicted over COVID-19 stickers

COVID-19 | DIRECTIVES

KAMPALA - A top Internal Security Organisation (ISO) officer and three Pakistan nationals have been convicted for selling and illegally possessing COVID-19 motor vehicle stickers.

The convicts are an ISO officer Stephen Ariong Osikol 52, a resident of Gombe ‘A,' Gombe ward in Wakiso district, Ali Sabir 58, Ali Noshad 42, and Imran Behlum Usama 22.

Osikol is an event and protocol officer in ISO, assigned to aid the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) in the distribution of COVID 19 motor vehicle stickers.

His co-convicts Sabir and Noshad,  residents of Ntinda are directors of Alibaba Restaurant and Jambo Auto Motors, respectively, while Usama is a director of JP Africa Jambo Auto Mart aboding at Naalaya Estate in Kampala district.

The convicts appeared before the Buganda Road Court Grade One Magistrate Dorothy Bagyenyi and confessed to four counts of breach of trust by a person employed in the public service and unlawful possession of government stores.

The charges contravene sections 113 and 316 (2) of the Penal Code Act Cap 120 of the Penal Code Act.

Upon confession, the learned Magistrate ruled that she had convicted the pair on their own plea of guilty.

"From your own admission, I hereby convict and remand you to Kitalya Prison till May 8, 2020, when you will return to this court for your sentence," Bagyenyi ruled.

Prior, the prosecution led by Edwin Amanya entreated court to give a deterrent sentence to the convicts so as to bar would-be offenders from committing the same.

"The convicts violated the president's orders aimed at preventing COVID 19, we, therefore, pray for a deterrent sentence," Amanya said.

On mitigation, the convicts entreated court to give them a lenient sentence saying they did not intend to break the law.

Left to right: Pakistanis Ali Noshad, Ali Sabir and Imran Behlum Usama at Buganda Road Chief Magistrates' Court

 
The law

Under the law, any person employed in the public service who, in the discharge of the duties of his or her office, commits any fraud or breach of trust affecting the public, commits a misdemeanor and is liable to one-year imprisonment.

Meanwhile, illicit possession of government stores attracts a maximum sentence of seven years.

The charge

The prosecution alleges that between April 6 and 9, 2020 at the MoWT in Kampala, Ariong, employed in ISO as an Events and Protocol officer and assigned in the said ministry to take part in the distribution of COVID-19 motor vehicle stickers, breached the trust by unlawfully issuing stickers to unauthorized persons.

It is further asserted that on April 14 in Kampala, Sabir, Noshad and Usama were found in unlawful possession of MoWT stickers, pinned on their vehicles, the said stickers under Category Food Production.