Accountant General Lawrence Semakula Further Remanded Until March

The Anti-corruption court in Nakasero has heard that police is still carrying out investigations in a case where  nine  officials from  the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Developmet  are facing  charges of corruptly causing government a 60 billion shillings loss through manipulations of payment systems. 

The jailed officials include the Accountant General – Lawrence Ssemakula , commissioner Treasury  services – Jenifer Muhuruzi , Mark Kasiku – IT Systems Officer, the senior IT officer Yawe Tonny, Paul Nkalubo Lumala – IT Systems Officer, Kusiima Deborah Dorothy – Senior Accountant and Pedison Twesigomwe an Assistant commissioner accounts who has been charged today after summons against him were published in a daily News paper.  

According to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the fraud took place between January and October 2024 and was executed through manipulation of financial payment systems within the ministry.

The first charge accuses Semakula and Muhuruzi of failing to implement safeguards to prevent the fraudulent transactions, leading to a financial loss to the government of Uganda.

The most serious allegations revolve around Tony Yawe, a Senior IT Officer, who is accused of orchestrating the fraudulent transactions.

Yawe is charged with manipulating payment instruction files between September 9 and September 11, 2024, to divert USD 6,134,137.75 meant for the International Development Association (IDA) to a fraudulent entity, Roadway Co. Limited, Tokyo, Japan.

Additionally, USD 6,674,320.75, originally intended for the International Development Association (Washington, D.C.), was redirected to International Development Association Sielska 17A, Poznań, Poland.

Charges against Mark Kasiku state that he introduced unauthorized executable scripts into the Oracle Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), enabling the unauthorized transfer of USD 8,596,824.26 to MJS International London between September 23 and September 27, 2024.

The charges further detail how Twesigomwe Pedson, Kusiima Deborah Dorothy, and Paul Nkalubo Lumala actively participated in concealing the fraudulent transactions.

Today, presiding chief magistrate Reacheal Nakyazze has informed the suspects that she is not clothed with jurisdiction to entertain their plea as they will do so before a judge in the Highcourt who will also hear their bail application. 

The group is  facing  11 counts including corruption, causing Financial Loss, Electronic Fraud and Money Laundering . 

They have been remanded to Luzira prison upto the 4th / March /2025 after prosecution’s Richard Birivumbuka reported that investigations are still on-going .