By our reporter
The former head of economic monitoring in the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) Teddy Seezi Cheeye has passed on.
According to his daughter, Cheeye was knocked by a boda boda as he was taking a walk in Nakawa on Thursday.
It is alleged that while in that office, Cheeye mismanaged global fund money and diverted it to personal use.
In 2009, Justice John Bosco Katutsi, the then-head of the Anti-Corruption Court, convicted Cheeye for embezzling sh120m of the Global Fund and sentenced him to 10-year in jail. Other suspects like former health minister Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi and his assistants Mike Mukula and Dr Alex Kamugisha were acquitted of similar charges.
Cheeye was also ordered to refund sh110m of the sh120m he embezzled. He appealed to the Supreme Court in 2010 but the sentence was upheld. It was the irony of ironies that the once feared crusading journalist who edited and run the no-holds-barred Uganda Confidential newsletter that broke big corruption stories, ended up being convicted of corruption.
Although he was sentenced to 10 years, Cheeye was pardoned and served seven years basing on his good conduct while in Prison.
He was released on 3rd March 2017. In his interview after prison Cheeye said he believed he did not commit any crime but he paid the ultimate price for stepping on the toes of powerful people through his newsletter, to him, the appointment to ISO was a trap.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
