Former NFA boss Akankwasa given bail

Damien Akankwasa

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Damien Akankwasa will, however, be reporting to court every last Friday of the month until his second appeal is disposed

Kampala.

The Court of Appeal has granted bail to former National Forestry Authority (NFA) boss Damien Akankwasa as he awaits the hearing of his appeal seeking to overturn his two-year jail term that was upheld by the Anti-Corruption Court.

Akankwasa was in January found guilty of selling 10,000 eucalyptus poles from Mwenge Forest Reserve at a half price of Shs10,000 each instead of the standard Shs20,000 despite protests from the director of plantations.

Justice Augustine Nshimye of the Court of Appeal ordered Akankwasa to pay a cash bail of Shs5 million and directed that the receipt of the other Shs5 million he had paid in 2011 before the Anti-Corruption Court be handed in.

He also said Akankwasa’s land title and passport be forwarded to Court of Appeal registry where he has to keep reporting every last Friday of the month until his second appeal is disposed of.

“The appellant (Akankwasa) is of advanced age and the court is not in position to fix hearing of his appeal, because we have just completed a criminal session, and we are now going for a session of constitutional matters,” ruled Justice Nshimye.

Anti-Corruption court Judge Lawrence Gidudu upheld the sentence against him saying the Magistrate’s court had properly evaluated evidence against him.

While sentencing Akankwasa, Grade One Magistrate Susanne Okeny said the convict deserved a custodial sentence because he was in a managerial position and knew that what he was doing was not right.

She said by using a private treaty to cause the felling of 10,000 trees for electricity poles, Akankwasa disadvantaged other bidders who would have paid for the same trees at a better price.

Prosecution stated that Akankwasa committed the offence between April 7 and May 23, 2008, while he was still serving as NFA executive director without consulting the procurement and contracts committees.

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