Dura Cement Report Pins Col Mwesigye, Elly Karuhanga In US$ 15M Loss
Tullow Oil's Elly Karuhanga has been implicated in the Dura report
A report of parliament has indicted Tullow Oil Company president, a high court judge and Nyabushozi Member of Parliament for causing government loss of over 15 million dollars.
Elly Karuhanga, Justice Billy Kainamura and MP Fred Mwesigye, are accused of having played a role in the compensation of Dura Cement Limited where government lost millions of dollars.
The report which was compiled by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) accuses several individuals of causing financial loss to government by irregularly transferring a mining sublease from National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) to Hima Cement, and later to Dura Cement Limited, without tendering.
NEC is the commercial arm of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).
The report recommends that NEC be held liable for failure to carry out due diligence which resulted into dealings with a one Rajesh Kumal, who turned out to be a fraudster as he was neither a director nor a shareholder of Dura Cement.
The report also suggests that Colonel Mwesigye, who was managing director of NEC before becoming MP in 2011, be held responsible for introducing Rajesh to President Museveni with the view of securing transfer of a mining lease from NEC to Dura Cement.
The report also wants former solicitor general Billy Kainamura, who is now a high court judge, to be held liable for leaking the draft of KPMG report to Karuhanga of Kampala Associated Advocates who used it to mislead the president on the amount recommended to compensate Dura Cement.
Kainamura is also accused of causing financial loss to government by abandoning an original compensation fee of 450,000 dollars from a negotiation team and entertaining a new fee in the letter from President Yoweri Museveni of 14.5 million dollars.
According to the report, Kainamura went ahead to commit a sum of 250,000 dollars to KPMG abandoning the recommendations in the KPMG report suggesting that he be made to refund the money lost.
The committee also wants Karuhanga to be held liable for influence-peddling and professional misconduct as a lawyer of Dura Cement, who sued government for compensation and that his conduct and interest should be investigated by other organs of government.
Former attorney general Khiddu Makubuya is also implicated for causing financial loss to government by refusing to discount the offer of 14.5 million dollars.
Government is said to have lost over 40 billion shillings when it illegally compensated Dura Cement Limited after cancelling its contract to set up a cement factory in Kamwenge district in 2007.
Dura, whose contract was terminated after only 6 months on the instructions of President Museveni, sued government and was compensated 14.5 million dollars.
Government gave the mining lease to Hima Cement claiming that the limestone in the area wasn’t enough to accommodate two factories.
PAC observed that government shouldn’t have terminated Dura’s contract in the first place and that the compensation would have been realistic had it not been for the negligence of the involved Officials.
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the same guys always, why?
Imagine a fake investor get compensated $14Million dollars which was shared by the elite Uganda so called businessmen. Why was the President got dragged into this case and does the President got any mandate to arthorise compensation of this magnitude than going through either the parliament. Uganda where are we going?
there is more to come,God have mercy on our country
Thats the way things ar done in ug,in the eyes of the president himself/its high time he puts his trusted thugs behind bars