Parliament budget boss jailed for 10 years, ordered to refund 822 million

Mr Samuel Wanyaka being led to the cells after he was condemned to 10 years in prison by the Anti Corruption court for embezzling government funds. Photo by Anthony Wesaka

KAMPALA. The Anti Corruption Court on Wednesday sentenced the interdicted Director Parliamentary Budget Office Mr Samuel Wanyaka to ten years in jail for embezzling over Shs822 million that was meant to carry out service delivery activities in the country.

The presiding judge Paul Mugamba also sentenced Mr Wanyaka to seven years for the charges of abuse of office (five years) and false accounting by a public officer (two years). However, the judge said the convict (Wanyaka) will serve all the three sentences concurrently; meaning that he will spend ten years in jail.
Mr Wanyaka was also ordered to refund all the money (over Shs822) he had stolen .

The sentence comes just days after Mr Wanyaka was last week found guilty of all the three counts of embezzlement, abuse of office and false accounting by a public officer.
While sentencing Mr Wanyaka, judge Mugamba said the harsh verdict was to send a signal to him and others that ‘crime does not pay and that impunity should not be given a mere slap on the chic’.
The convict was also banned from seeking or being employed by the government of Uganda for the next ten years.
While convicting Mr Wanyaka last week, justice Mugamba observed that he received the money in question but never put it to its proper use that it was requisitioned for.
The judge further in his breakdown, held that fictitious accountability was done by Mr Wanyaka as a cover up for the unaccounted money and that the same ended up onto his Stanbic bank account located at Forest Mall Lugogo, Kampala.

The money in question according to the charge sheet, was meant for service delivery surveys in the country but Mr Wanyaka embezzled it, which money he had access by virtue of his employment before putting it into his personal use between August 13 and December 9, 2013.
The IGG had also told court that Mr Wanyaka knowingly, made false returns for the same Shs822 million.
Mr Wanyaka’s problems begun early 2013 following a complaint of alleged corruption lodged by a whistle-blower before the IGG of how he was abusing his office and that was corrupt too.

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