Four senior officials from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) who were arrested by the State House Anti-corruption unit for inflating prices relief food have been charged with colluding to commit a fraudulent practice.
The four officers were arrested including the permanent secretary Christine Guwatudde Kintu, accounting officer Joe Wanjala, assistant commissioner procurement Fred Mutimba and commissioner disaster management (head COVID-19) Martin Owor.
It’s alleged over Shs 4 billion was lost in inflated because the suspects quoted Shs3,900 per kilogram of maize flour as opposed to the market price of Shs 2500-3000 and Shs 4500 per kilogram of beans as opposed to Shs 3000-4000 market price.
The government had ordered for 9,030,000 kilograms of maize flour and 635,000 kilograms of beans.
The suppliers included Afro Kai Uganda Ltd, Global Trust Ltd, Mandela Millers and Aponye Uganda Ltd.
Sources allege that some suppliers were eliminated from the list which sparked an investigation by Lt Col Edith Nakalema, the head of the State House Anti-corruption Unit, and it was established that the accounting officers in OPM were inflating prices for maize flour and beans procured as relief food for vulnerable families.
On 9th April 2020, they were interrogated by Police.
On 14th the four were brought at Buganda road court for the hearing of their charges.
According to grade One Magistrate Doreen Karungi, the four colluded to commit a fraudulent practice during the procurement of food relief item for Covid-19 by inflating prices from those offered by the suppliers.
She said that the four suspects worked contrary to section 95 (1) (2) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act the was amended in 2003.
Although the suspects applied for the bail, Karungi refused saying that entertaining the bail applications would lead to a violation of the COVID-19 directives on social distancing given that the parties in the matter including the lawyers and the sureties were very many.
She thus adjourned the matter to 4th May.
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