Hon. Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo Chief Justice of Uganda,
I wish to put your attention to the Pension Scam case where the brief detail of the case is given in the summary below:
The Anti-Corruption Court (located in Kololo, Kampala) delivered judgment as regards the accused involved in the pension case in which Shs 88.2 billion was stolen. The money is said to have been used to pay “ghost” pensioners.
Lwamafa, the former Ministry of Public Service Permanent Secretary, Obey, Principal Accountant and Kunsa, Director Research and Development were on August 19, 2015, arraigned before court and charged with several counts in relation to the irregular budgeting of National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and misappropriation of sh88b allocated to it.
This case came four months after the collapse of the sh165b pension scam case. The case was dismissed for lack of prosecution evidence after it had stalled for one and a half years without any witness being produced in court.
According to the charge sheet, the embezzlement, fraud, conspiracy, false accounting and diversion took place in two financial years, 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.
Briefly, the three accused were said to have masterminded a fraud scheme using an unapproved payment system, in which they created ghost pensioner accounts, and then purportedly paid billions of shillings into these accounts, which money was eventually withdrawn by people who were part of this scheme. According to the State, the accused budgeted for NSSF, an item the ministry does not budget for and when the money was remitted, they diverted it to an unknown third party.
In his judgment Justice Lawrence Gidudu noted that the money was fraudulently paid to former employees of the defunct East African Community board.
He also said that the sh88.2b was siphoned through a syndicate which was initiated at the ministry of public service, modified at the ministry of finance, perfected at the Bank of Uganda and executed by Cairo Bank.
A judgment was made as result of a 15 months trial , In his judgment Justice Lawrence Gidudu exonerated the Secretary to the Treasury Mr. Keith Muhakanizi of allegation of conspiring with the accused had earlier been raised against too, this was because he had made it expressly clear to the accused prior to the loss of money which was allegedly reported stolen that the payment scheme was not approved and not efficient however the accused had gone ahead and used it to make payment to non-existent individuals. The court received cooperation from the office of the Secretary of the Treasury and as such Mr. Keith Muhakanzi had written to court and the prosecution in regards to the case and his caution to the accused. The accused Christopher Obey was sentenced to 15 years, Mr Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa was sentenced to 5 years and Jimmy Lwamafa was sentenced to 7 years they were also ordered to as well as to refund shs. 50 billion of the shs. 88.2 billion Jointly.
My Lord, this case arises from a situation where I William Kituuka Kiwanuka organized to raise funds to be able to stand for President of Uganda. I used Cairo International Bank in Uganda to help with the collection of the funds. Mr. Ssentongo Ishaq A the Assistant Manager Operations was the contact person I approached over the fundraising. He told me that no money had been collected on my behalf. However, this was wrong. Instead it comes out that the funds I raised are part of what became the Pension Scam.
My Lord, I need justice in this matter.
My Lord I fail to understand the role played by the various Government Agencies in ensuring justice in this case. The agencies include: The Inspectorate of Government; The Auditor General, The Criminal Investigations Directorate and the Directorate of Public Prosecution.
My Lord, in handling this case it is not clearly brought out the source of the funds which were shared. Secondly, the actual beneficiary of the funds is not brought out.
My Lord, this matter clearly points to a scheme that was meant to deny me receipt of funds I raised and instead other parties ended up benefiting.
My Lord, 10 years down the road, I call for justice.
THE ACCOUNT: ULTRA SIMPLEX ENTERPRISES – 000686
I happened to open an Account with Cairo International Bank when the Bank was on Sure House Building in Kampala. The Account: ULTRA SIMPLEX ENTERPRISES – 000686 was to help me among other things have where to deposit cheques from those who advertised with my Career Tips Magazine. With time, business became difficult and the Account became dormant.
In 2010, I got an idea to contest for President of Uganda. I worked on a Blog which currently runs as: IDEAS WILLIAM KITUUKA KIWANUKA HAD FOR THE PRESIDENCY PRIOR TO 2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS (If you search on Google, you see the content). This article when accessed on the Internet gives the content of my appeal for President of Uganda for 2011. I had a challenge of a bank account to use to collect the proceeds of my fundraising. I decided to go to Cairo International Bank which had re – located to where Greenland Bank used to be on Greenland Bank Building – Kampala road. I was referred to the Manager on 1st Floor who was in charge of Dormant Accounts among other duties. I told him that I wanted to have my account re – instated so that I use it to collect proceeds of my fundraising. He agreed. I was then able to send out appeal emails worldwide with the web address of my Blog included. I got the skill to send out Email appeals from Regional Partnership for Resource Development (REPARED) whose contacts are: John Chikati, IFDM Gardens, Ngong Road, Nairobi, P.O. Box 5027-00506, +254 387 28 23. These people used to send to me literature to do with fundraising when I was Chairman: Makerere University Private Students’ Parents’ Association (MUPRISPA) from 2001 onwards given that they believed we could use the skills to fundraise for Privately Sponsored Students at the University.
I was however surprised when I checked at Cairo International Bank and the contact person Ssentongo Ishaq. A the Assistant Manager Operations kept telling me that they had not received funds to the credit of my account. As the Nomination date for Presidential Candidates got nearer, I wrote to the Governor Bank of Uganda about my problem and copied the letter to the Chairperson Electoral Commission (Letter attached).
I finally resigned with Cairo International Bank after I was told that the bank had not received any funds to the credit of my account. After sometime, when I checked at Cairo Bank, ULTRA SIMPLEX ENTERPRISES ACCOUNT - 000686 had been closed!
The Pension Scam in Cairo International Bank
When I was in a position of disbelief, I learnt that some ghost pensioners had shared money in Cairo Bank. I took a lot of interest in the matter. I was later to learn that staff in the Ministry of Public Service had been involved in the scam. I also learnt that a Till was allocated to those who called to the bank to collect the loot. I also learnt that shs 150,000 was got by the bank from each of the beneficiary accounts to the fraud, and that there was only one transaction and the account would be closed!
Ever since, I have come to believe beyond reasonable doubt that the funds involved in the pension scam were actually proceeds to my fundraising which had been a success, but that I was denied access to the money I raised.
Information about the Pension Scam can be searched on Google: ‘A brief summary of the pension scam - Barefoot Law’
The Banker – Customer relationship
It is very clear that state actors got involved in this fraud that denied me funds I raised. However, with my understanding of banking, given that I practiced as a Commercial banker for some years, if a customer’s account has issues, these MUST be brought to the attention of the customer. My fundraising registered a big success. Some people saw it as opportunity to deny me the money. But whatever they got involved in is fraud or outright robbery. The bank should have called me and discussed issues surrounding my fundraising, but they didn’t.
The Court Case regarding the Pension Scam.
I was patient as the court case for the Pension scam went on. There was no mention of the source of the funds, nor the rightful beneficiary (ries), however, some money was recovered as if it is the Government of Uganda that had lost the funds!
Ten years down the road, my patience has died out.
After realizing that 9 years had passed and I was not getting justice, I decided to write to Mr. Asubo Sydney, the CEO Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) – the letter is dated December 17, 2019. Asubo was attached to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) office by the time of the fraud – (he was the Director Legal Affairs at the Inspectorate of Government) and now he is the FIA CEO. Unfortunately, up to the time of my writing to you, Mr. Asubo has never made any effort to write back to me over the subject. When I realized that Asubo had not responded, on March 9, 2020 I decided to hand deliver my complaint to the Auditor General’s Office given that they had made some report about the same fraud in Cairo International Bank. I have however never got a response from his office.
Decision to involve Bank of Uganda.
I decided to send my complaints to Bank of Uganda. Cairo Bank got my complaint from Bank of Uganda. I got a call from the Cairo Bank on 24th August 2020 – actually via Tel. +256782196936 registered in the name: Angelina Nyakake. It was acknowledgment that they had got my complaint. I responded to Bank of Uganda that the way to sort my matter with Cairo Bank was to have an audit of the transactions to account 000686 – Ultra Simplex Enterprises. This letter I copied to Cairo International Bank. Unfortunately, Cairo Bank has since not updated me of the developments.
ATTACHMENT NO.1: LETTER TO GOVERNOR BANK OF UGANDA.
WILLIAM KITUUKA KIWANUKA
P. O. Box 33917,
KAMPALA.
Tel: +256714981628
Email: wkituuka@myself.com
29th September 2010
The Governor
Bank of Uganda
P. o. Box 7120,
Kampala.
Dear Sir,
RE: FUNDING FOR MY PRESIDENTIAL BID
Up to now, I am one of those who wish to stand as Independent candidates for President of Uganda. Unfortunately, I cannot proceed to collect Nomination Papers if I have no funding, which funding I have endeavoured to campaign for widely. Unfortunately, the contact email I circulated: williamkituuka@hotmail.com has for some time now not been accessible to me for reasons which I am not aware of! That means I cannot have information via that email address. Time has run out as my last hope to be able to collect Nomination Papers is Friday, October 1st, 2010.
The purpose of this communication therefore is to kindly request the Bank in case there is any funding in my favour to avail information to me. I look forward to maximum cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
cc Senior Staff Bank of Uganda
cc The Electoral Commission
ATTACHMENT NO. 2: WEBADDRESS FOR MY APPEAL TO FUNDRAISE
http://hecarethforyou.blogspot.com/2014/10/ideas-william-kituuka-kiwanuka-had-for.html?m=1
ATTACHMENT NO. 3: A SUMMARY OF THE PENSION SCAM
https://barefootlaw.org/a-brief-summary-of-the-pension-scam/
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