SH60BN BOU HEIST! How Mafia Plotted Accountant General Lawrence Ssemakula Arrest as M7 Clears Him…Heads Set to Roll as President Orders CID, DPP to Hunt “Real Thieves”
Ssemakula
Heads are set to roll at the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Uganda and Police after President Yoweri Museveni cleared Principal Accountant General Lawrence Ssemakula and eight other Finance Ministry officials who had been caught up in the Shs60 billion Bank of Uganda money scandal.
The President has ordered fresh investigations to identify and arrest what he described as the real culprits behind the fraudulent transactions, saying the nine Finance officials should not be held responsible for the theft.
The dramatic intervention has thrown the Shs60 billion scandal wide open, with questions now being raised over how senior government officials were arrested and interdicted before the real masterminds behind the transactions were identified.
Museveni has also reinstated Ssemakula as Principal Accountant General and given him a fresh three-year contract with immediate effect.
Ssemakula had been among the officials suspended as investigations intensified into the alleged theft involving money held in Bank of Uganda accounts.
The President has directed the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to return to the drawing board and conduct proper investigations instead of continuing to blame officials he has now declared innocent.
The directive is expected to trigger a fresh scramble within the security and financial sectors as investigators seek to establish who actually authorised and executed the suspicious transactions.
The scandal involves approximately Shs22.5 billion intended for the World Bank and another Shs31.5 billion meant for the African Development Fund.
The funds were allegedly fraudulently wired to Japan and London respectively.
Investigations have reportedly indicated that the transactions were coordinated and required specific instructions to the central bank, rather than being the result of a simple computer or system breach.
Nine officials from the Ministry of Finance had been charged in connection with the scandal.
But with Museveni now clearing the officials, attention has shifted to the people who allegedly engineered and executed the transactions.
MAFIA PLOT?
Even more explosive are allegations that Ssemakula may have been caught in a separate internal power struggle at the Ministry of Finance.
Sources told RedPepper that some technocrats at the ministry had allegedly been fighting Ssemakula and wanted him removed from office.
According to the sources, sometime back an official from Police CID allegedly approached Ssemakula over the creation or control of a self-accounting vote for CID.
There was also reportedly a push involving the Government Citizen Interaction Centre (GCIC), which operates under State House and serves as a public contact point for government information, feedback and service delivery monitoring.
Sources claim there was an attempt to have a vote created for GCIC.
Ssemakula allegedly resisted the moves.
According to the sources, it was after these disagreements that a plan was allegedly hatched to get rid of him.
The allegations could not independently be established by RedPepper, but sources insist that the internal battles at the Finance Ministry form part of the wider background that investigators must now examine.
One source claimed that a senior official at the ministry was working with others in the alleged scheme to have Ssemakula pushed out.
The allegations raise a critical question: was Ssemakula merely a casualty of the Shs60 billion scandal, or was his suspension and arrest also linked to an internal struggle over control of government financial votes?
It remains unclear whether some of the disputed financial votes were created following Ssemakula’s arrest but this is a story for another day.
M7 GETS THE FILE
Sources say President Museveni has now received information about the circumstances surrounding the arrests and suspension of the Finance officials.
The President’s decision to clear the nine officials is therefore expected to have far-reaching consequences.
Sources say heads could roll if the fresh investigations establish that officials deliberately manipulated the original probe or targeted innocent technocrats.
Museveni’s directive effectively shifts the focus from the nine Finance officials to the people who allegedly planned, authorised and executed the suspicious transfers.
The big question now is who gave the instructions that enabled the money to leave the Bank of Uganda accounts.
Investigators will also have to establish who benefited from the transfers and whether there were people inside or outside government who coordinated the transactions.
The scandal has already exposed serious questions about controls surrounding government funds and the relationship between the Ministry of Finance, the central bank and other institutions involved in public financial management.
SEMAKULA BACK
For Ssemakula, the President’s intervention marks a dramatic reversal.
The Accountant General, who had been suspended and dragged into the scandal, is now returning to his office with a fresh three-year contract.
His reinstatement also raises questions about the circumstances under which he was initially interdicted and charged.
If the President’s directive is followed through, CID and DPP will now have to establish where the original investigation went wrong and who the real perpetrators are.
The development is likely to intensify scrutiny of the Finance Ministry, Bank of Uganda and security agencies involved in the initial probe.
It also places enormous pressure on investigators to establish the full chain of events surrounding the Shs60 billion transactions.
For now, the biggest mystery remains: who moved the money, who authorised the transfers, who benefited — and who allegedly wanted Ssemakula out?
Sources say more heads could roll once the fresh investigations get underway.
More details to follow.
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