Police probe missing cash at Entebbe hotel

Hotel waiters and the IT department are accused of creating a fake account to steal the funds.

Entebbe

Police in Entebbe have mounted investigations into the missing Shs133 million from Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe that was purportedly defrauded by an organised clique of hotel staff between 2008 and 2012.

Seven hotel workers have been expelled and investigations into the scam are underway as those dismissed accuse others still retained of sharing the loot. “We have requested for the hotel audit and IT systems reports from the service provider Nova Com, that is yet to be availed to us,” Mr Bital Ssentamu, the Entebbe police crime investigations boss, said.

Daily Monitor has since ascertained that the hotel systems administrator, two cashiers, waiters and a debt collector have been arrested and latter released but management resolved to fire them.
Police investigations show that the IT department had connived with the hotel waiters to create a fake account.

Money collected from the guests was then put on the account to be shared at the end of each day. A report released by internal auditors showed that about Shs120m has been lost in the scam. The hotel debt collector was also accused of inflating customers’ debts that the audit report showed had caused a financial loss of at least Shs13m.

Police sources said Nova Com questined how the passwords and fraud would go undetected in the past four years. The hotel general manager, Mr Mohamed Morghan, could not be reached on his known phone numbers and his secretary Sheeba Kagimu kept postponing an appointment.

mssebuyira@ug.nationmedia.com