Byandala co-accused sentenced to ten years imprisonment

The Ant Corruption Court in Kololo has sentenced Apollo Ssenkeeto, a businessman convicted of being a scam that led government to lose shs24.7 billion in the construction of the Kyetume- Katosi road.

The court convicted Ssenkeeto, who purported to be the country representative for Eutaw Construction Company, Joe Ssemugooma, the former director of finance and administration at UNRA and Wilberforce Senjako, the former regional accountant for UNRA .

On Thursday afternoon, justice Lawrence Gidudu said he ought to give a deterrent sentence to the convicts so as to serve as a lesson to other people who would want to cause financial loss to government.

“Ssenkeeto was the architect of this scam with his American friends and if this was a play, he would be the protagonist .He needs salvation because his manipulations forced many people to lose jobs in UNRA,”Gidudu said.

“Though he was a first offender with a young family, he used part of the money from the scam to live an artificial life and court has to discourage such a lifestyle.”

The judge sentenced Ssenkeeto to ten years imprisonment for theft whereas the same court handed him three year sentences for each of the many counts of uttering false documents he had earlier been convicted of.

The sentenced however are to run concurrently.

The same court also handed Joe Ssemugooma and Wilberforce Ssenjako each five years for abuse of office and corruption offences they had been convicted of earlier.

The judge said the two UNRA officials played prominent roles in the scam that led to loss of huge sums of money by government.

“If Ssemugooma and Ssenjako had nipped the bud in the knee,the scam would have collapsed at tendering stage and Eutaw would have been disqualified at the same stage due to presenting fake securities, “Gidudu said.

He said the two officials looked away after realizing there was a problem with the securities and instead advised Eutaw led by Ssenkeeto to backdate their bid documents.

“They were gatekeepers who would have locked out the bogus bid by properly verifying the bid securities but they didn’t do it.”

The judge said the three people cannot be given non -custodial sentenced because this would look like a mockery of justice by the court.

“A non-custodial sentence would only be a mockery of justice and a simple part on their back yet they cause a big loss to government.”

Earlier, the court had acquitted former Works Minister, Eng.Abraham Byandala and three other co-accused in the Kyetume- Katosi road saga.

Byandala was being accused of directing for the immediate signing of a contract in 2013 between Eutaw and UNRA before due diligence which later turned out a scam and government lost shs24.7 billion in the Kyetume-Katosi road saga.

However, Gidudu said there was nothing arbitrary in the then minister’s letter to UNRA because he was their direct supervisor in absence of a board of directors.

“The road had been promised for a long time and now that the money had been available, he could not stop the construction works,”Gidudu said.

The judge also acquitted Eng Berunado Ssebbugga Kimeze, the former UNRA Executive Director, Isaac Mugote, a former staff at Housing Finance bank and Marvin Baryaruha, the former UNRA legal counsel of offences related to abuse of office.