Radio Apac
Anti-Corruption Court extends Apac salary fraud case hearing to early April
23 February 2023, 11:32 am
By; Mike Okwang Ogule & Daniel Odongo
The adjournment follows an entreaty by the State to be given more time to present the remaining three wittiness in the case. Out of 19 witinesses,16 have already appeared before the court in an exercise that commenced on Monday this week at Apac chief magistrate court.
The presiding judge, Jane Okuo, adjourned the case and set the hearing dates for 4th ,5th and 6th April 2023 and according to her, the hearing will be shifted to Kololo in kampala where the Anti-Corruption court sits. The judge however extended the accused bail terms until 4th April.2023.
In October 2021 an internal audit report showed overpaid wages which was registered in Apac District resulting to a loss of almost Shs400 million.
The alleged irregularities in payment of 19 staff – most of whom are teachers and health workers – was in June 2021, report indicates that the beneficiaries of the salary bonanza are mostly junior staff who earn peanuts. The salary scandal has also sucked in some people who received Shs35m each and Others were even paid twice.
The embezzled funds were supposed to be returned to the Treasury at the end of the financial year ending June 30. This followed Apac District’s failure to utilize all the money because it lacked a substantial District Service Commission to support staff recruitment.
The suspects who fraudulently accounted for the unused funds, reportedly distributed the money among their core trusted relatives and friends. The fraud syndicate took place on the government’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) under the watch of Mr Micheal Wanje the then Chief Administrative Officer. It was detailed in a report from the Internal Audit dated September 13, 2021.
The accused persons include the former accounting officer, Mr Micheal Wanje, former Education officer Mr Sam Atim, Chief finance officer Mr, Ekwang Paul, Senior accounting officer Mr Ebong Patrict and Mr Tom Adoko the human resource officer.
According to the hearing, most of the witnesses confessed to have received, withdrawn and handed back the money to their bosses even though most of them didn’t have legal documents to prove that they gave back the money.