Uganda Govt raids Treasury to refund stolen Irish aid

Govt raids Treasury to refund stolen aid

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Govt-raids-Treasury-to-refund-stolen-aid/-/688334/1661044/-/gf16lg/-/index.html

By TABU BUTAGIRA

Posted  Wednesday, January 9  2013 at  02:00

In Summary

The side of the law

Article 154(3) of the Constitution. “No monies shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund unless the withdrawal has been approved by the Auditor General and in the manner prescribed by Parliament.”
Keith Muhakanizi, Deputy Secretary to the Treasury. “The Constitution allows the President and the [Finance] Minister to bring up supplementary budget and seek Parliament’s approval within four months.”
Tim Lwanga, Parliament Budget Committee chairperson. “If they are just getting supplementary budget to cover for thieves… they will have hard time convincing Parliament to approve that kind of expenditure.”

The government has again raided the public coffers, taking out billions of taxpayers’ money without parliamentary authorisation, to refund donor monies allegedly spirited away by politically well-connected staff at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Details of the secretive supplementary budget, reportedly amounting to Shs21 billion, emerged as Eamon Gilmore, the Foreign Affairs minister for the Republic of Ireland, announced on Monday that Uganda had reimbursed Euros4 million (Shs14b) in misappropriated Irish Aid funds.

Uganda’s development partners - among them Norway, Sweden, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark - last October took back-to-back decisions to freeze aid transfers after a forensic audit by Auditor General John Muwanga unearthed evidence of financial scam at OPM.

The investigations followed a Daily Monitor exposé, detailing how billions of government monies had irregularly been credited on personal accounts of dozens of OPM staff for official work, contrary to existing financial regulations.

At least Shs60 billion meant for recovery and development activities in northern Uganda and Karamoja was likely swindled, infuriating donors who, in a meeting with President Museveni, demanded for a refund of their stolen cash.

The interpretation of the law

In Kampala, Deputy Secretary to Treasury Keith Muhakanizi, probably referring to Article 154 of the 1995 Constitution, said the law allows the President or line minister to use public funds and seek retrospective parliamentary authorisation within four months.

“I am confirming that we have paid the Irish [and] we shall pay the others (donors) who want their money back,” he said, adding: “We are making a lot of progress on that front.”

It remained unclear whether Mr Museveni or Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka directed the reimbursement, which anti-graft activists demanded should be done by those culpable.

The law requires Auditor General’s sanction before any withdrawals from Consolidated Fund is made, and Mr Muwanga, who was instrumental in unraveling the reported thefts at OPM, was unavailable yesterday to confirm if he gave a nod.

Mr Tim Lwanga, Parliament’s Budget Committee chairman, said he was in the dark about the reported supplementary budget and bureaucrats, who worked it out, “did not get parliamentary approval”.

This would not be the first time for the Executive to take money out from Treasury behind the back of MPs, who the Constitution mandates to appropriate and provide oversight on spending of public resources.

Two years ago, Bank of Uganda Governor Tumusiime Mutebile forked out $740 million out of the foreign exchange reserve to pay for six Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighter jets bought from Russian state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport.

London’s Financial Times later quoted Mr Mutebile saying President Museveni ordered the spending, which drained the foreign reserves. Parliament endorsed the expense retrospectively.

Yesterday, Mr Lwanga said acquisition of the jet fighters was justified by an overriding national security interest, but the same cannot apply to attempts to clothe thieving government officials from personal liability.

He said: “If they are just getting supplementary budget to cover for thieves…they will have hard time convincing Parliament to approve that kind of expenditure.”

Detectives have investigated the cash bonanza over the last eight months, questioning more than 70 government employees, although OPM Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana, who initially projected himself as a whistleblower, is yet to explain to police his role as the accounting officer in the scandal.

Interdicted OPM principal accountant Geoffrey Kazinda has so far been arraigned in court.

Uganda refunds stolen Irish aid money

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Uganda-refunds-stolen-Irish-aid-money/-/688334/1660310/-/co03bwz/-/index.html

By Agencies

Posted  Tuesday, January 8  2013 at  11:23

The Uganda government has returned Euros 4 million (Shs14.2 billion) of Irish aid money which had been diverted without authorisation by personnel in the Office of the Prime Minister.

The money was part of the Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) that was allegedly diverted by staff in the OPM.

Reports say that Ireland has, however, announced that the suspension of its bilateral aid to Uganda will remain in place until officials are confident that controls have been put in place to prevent misappropriation of aid money from their country.

The Irish Times quotes the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore as saying that the restitution followed “intensive high-level discussions with the government of Uganda over the last two months.”

The money is said to have been refunded on January 07, 2013.

A team from the evaluation and audit unit of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs concluded that the fraud was “very sophisticated and well-thought-out” and involved a high level of collusion at senior level.

According to the audit findings, the fraud was conceived and carried out by personnel in collusion who had an intimate knowledge of systems within the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Prime Minister and Bank of Uganda.

The findings further indicate that the funds “were fraudulently transferred from the legitimate bank accounts into which the donors had properly deposited the money to fraudulent dormant accounts outside of the government system.” The audit adds that it was “impossible to know who the ultimate beneficiaries of the funds were”.

Gilmore said the 4 million Euros would be spent on health, education and HIV/Aids projects for which the aid was originally earmarked but it would not go through the government.

The Auditor General in October released a special audit report indicating that up to Shs50 billion was misappropriated by staff in the Prime Minister’s office. The misappropriated funds were intended for post-war recovery in Northern Uganda under the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP).

Following the scam, Norway, Denmark and United Kingdom, among others donor countries suspended their aid to Uganda.