30 police officers suspended over bribery, forgery

KAMPALA

At least 30 police officers have been suspended as the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) investigates a string of allegations ranging from forgery of academic transcripts to bribery which have recently rocked the Force.

The suspensions account for the biggest number of personnel indicted over indiscipline-related issues in a year during which PSU investigations against officers topped 3,000 cases since its establishment in 2007.

The officers were arrested in different parts of the country on different dates this month. At least 10 of the cases being investigated involve allegations of bribery while five individuals, including a senior officer, are reported to be facing the prospective charges of theft, forgery and uttering false documents in connection to suspected fraud at the Police Duty Free Shop.

When Daily Monitor contacted the Deputy Police Spokesperson, Ms Judith Nabakooba, after sending police a list of the officers suspected of forgery, she confirmed that PSU is investigating the matter.

“It is true we are investigating them but we are still in the preliminary stage of the investigation and no action has been taken yet,” Ms Nabakooba said yesterday.
Police sources, who preferred anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to the press, said yesterday that suspects will earn half pay until the cases are disposed of.

“Fourteen of these officers have been in police service but they were using names that aren’t theirs. Our investigations found out those transcripts they submitted to us were for other people. This is a crime,” a source said.

In one case, PSU and CID detectives arrested an Assistant Superintendent of Police attached to the Field Force Unit and four junior officers over the suspected uttering of false documents, forgery and theft of building material worth Shs8.1 million.

According to allegations contained in the CID file, the officers are believed to have forged stamps of Stanbic Bank on payment slips purportedly confirming they had paid for the purchase of building materials in the Police Welfare Directorate’s tax free outlet.

“Each of the four returned their bank slips duly stamped by what was purported to be a stamp of Stanbic Bank, IPS Branch and were issued with building materials,” a police statement reads in part. However, when officers from the Welfare Directorate checked the cash book later, the names of the said officers were not reconciling with bank statement, thus alerting their superiors.

The officers were summoned and “on interrogation, two junior officers stated that both applied for the materials and collected bank slips from the Welfare Directorate at the request of ASP (name withheld). They would later hand over the slips to ASP who later brought them back stamped,” a police statement read.

Six officers, among them an Assistant Inspector of Police in Rubirizi District, were arrested for allegedly soliciting for bribes from complainants.

abagala@ug.nationmedia.com