Museveni guards cited in State House ‘billions’ theft
In Summary
The theft, yet to be reported to police, allegedly happened last Friday night at Okello House.
KAMPALA
Soldiers of the Special Forces Group (SFG), the elite presidential guard unit, have been named in the alleged theft of large sums of money, reported to be in billions, from the State House Cash Office at Okello House in Kampala.
The theft is being inquired into by the investigations unit of the same crack force, according to Spokesman Capt. Edson Kwesiga, who approached us yesterday, to say none of their soldiers was involved.
This newspaper has been told by inside sources that three presidential guard soldiers have gone missing since last Friday’s disappearance of the money from the office, located just off the presidential lodge in Nakasero. Daily Monitor could not independently verify if any SFG soldiers remain unaccounted for by press time.
“I have been told that the (presidential) guards, probably having colluded with the cashiers, accessed the cash office at night on Friday and took the money using a vehicle,” a source, whom we cannot name due to the sensitivity of the matter, said.
It emerged last evening that two cashiers, both civilians, who were on duty the day of the heist - at one of the country’s presumably most protected offices - have been suspended as the SFG investigation got underway.
Whereas a whistleblower and another source within State House separately told this newspaper that anywhere between Shs8 billion and Shs17 billion could have been stolen, Capt. Kwesiga said Shs20 million was stolen, while Presidential Spokesman Tamale Mirundi later said it was Shs2 million. But the hunt for the masterminds has resulted in the reported, though independently unverifiable, flight of three SFG soldiers who were allegedly deployed as part of the guard detail at the building, an annex to Nakasero State House. It was still too early to pinpoint the actual thief, investigators reported.
Nothing of that kind involving SFG soldiers happened, Capt. Kwesiga said during an unsolicited visit he made to our Namuwongo head office after learning that this newspaper was investigating the story. He said: “The truth is that some money went missing at Okello House and an investigation by SFG is ongoing. The leads point us to the people working in the Cash Office which is manned by civilians.”
Theft is a criminal offence and under the Penal Code Act, any person convicted of the crime faces up to seven years imprisonment. But the case has not been reported to police and is being handled as an in-house affair at State House.
Comptroller Lucy Nakyobe, the State House accounting officer, did not answer our telephone calls and it was not clear how cashiers under her came to hold such vast sums overnight when standing public financial regulations apparently do not allow government officials to keep more than Shs20m a day in cash for recurrent expenses.
The money was for operations and as petty cash, officials said. Investigators did not explain how the theft happened at a place of round-the-clock security and surveillance.
Capt. Kwesiga also denied parallel reports that SFG was under some kind of internal strain because the Force commander and First Son, Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, allegedly mistreats some of his juniors, including cutting back on allowances.
Capt. Kwesiga said SFG soldiers pick only salary and an extra Shs120,000 as monthly “food basket” allowance, and receive no other perks unless deployed outside the country. “Nothing has been touched of this allowance, nothing has been scrapped,” he said.
Barely an hour after Capt. Kwesiga left our offices, Mr Mirundi telephoned this newspaper to say that the story was manufactured. “That story that you are writing that Shs18 billion was stolen from State House is a Fool’s Day story. Stealing billions from State House is like a devil attacking the Vatican, impossible! That Fool’s Day story you are writing is ‘palace politics’. A small cashier using his tricks took Shs2 million – that’s true,” Mr Tamale said.
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