National
MP convicted on corruption charges
MP Herbert Sabila (Left) and one of his co-accused Nelson Sammy (Right) marching to the Court Cells at the High Court on Thursday after being convicted. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
Posted Thursday, February 25 2010 at 11:50
Kampala
The Member of Parliament for Tingey county Herbert Sabila (NRM) has been convicted on charges of corruption and remanded to Luzira prison.
The Anti-Corruption Court Justice John Bosco Katutsi says the case in which Mr Sabilah and two were accused of attempting to bribe an official from the Inspectorate of Government has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The MP together with Mr Nelson Sammy, the former Kapchorwa Town Council treasurer and Mr Nathan Chelimo, an education consultant working with Unicef, are accused of giving a bribe of Shs700,000 to Mr Wycliffe Mutabule, an officer from the Inspectorate of Government in January last year.
The money in dispute was to induce Mr Mutabule to drop criminal charges against Mr Sammy, who was on trial over causing financial loss and abuse of office.
The three have however not been sentenced after their asked court that they be fined and not sentenced to jail.
The lawyer argued that section 26 of the anti-corruption act provides for sentencing to fines, in cases related to corruption.
Justice Katutsi has remanded the convicts to Luzira prison until Tuesday when he will give his sentence after further scrutiny of the law on sentencing.
More cases unresolved
Meanwhile, at least 90 corruption cases are stuck at Buganda Road court.
The cases dating as far back as 2001 are related to embezzlement, abuse of office, causing financial loss and corruption.
Most of the cases were committed mainly by civil servants and a few by private individuals. The complainants range from banks, to individuals and Insurance companies.
A list of corruption cases and status shows that most of the cases have been partly heard, a few others are at defense level but none has been disposed off.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source at Buganda Road Court said that the cases have been stalled pending police investigations.
If complete, the police are expected to hand over the case files to court, which in turn hands over the file to the Director of Public Prosecution for further scrutiny.
RSS